Sarah Palin on Civil Liberties

As a governor with no legislative experience, Palin does not have an ACLU rating. It is worth noting that her relative youth and lack of a legislative record also makes it difficult at times to assess her position on some civil liberties issues.

Palin, a member of Feminists for Life, supports overturning Roe v. Wade (1973), and the enactment of a full federal ban on the procedure with no exceptions for rape, incest, or a woman's health. While she described herself as "pro-contraception" during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, her views on birth control access and emergency contraception are not entirely clear.

Palin has regularly asked for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Alaska, which abolished capital punishment in 1957.

When she took office as mayor of Wasilla, Palin began her tenure by proposing bans on certain books in local public libraries (it's not clear exactly which books she was trying to ban). She fired a librarian who refused to cooperate, though it's not clear whether or not this was the reason the librarian was fired. Palin has also advocated the teaching of creationism in public school biology classes.

According to About.com: U.S. Conservative Politics guide Justin Quinn, Sarah Palin told right-wing talk radio host Laura Ingraham that she opposes comprehensive immigration reform proposals, including McCain's. "{S}he’s not for comprehensive reform, I can tell you that right now," Ingraham said. "She’s sick to death of this immigration nonsense in the United States."

In January 2007, Palin spoke out against a state supreme court ruling granting domestic partnership benefits to same-sex partners of state employees. She later vetoed a bill passed by the legislature to overturn the ruling; while she agreed with the bill's intent, she argued that it violated separation of powers (as it represented an attempt by the legislature to overturn a supreme court ruling by simple majority). She has stated firm opposition to same-sex marriage, and supported a 1998 constitutional amendment banning it in Alaska.

Palin's views on affirmative action, civil rights bills, and other issues pertaining to racial justice are not yet clear.

Palin received an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) when she ran for governor in 2006. McCain holds a C rating; both Obama and Biden hold F ratings.

Palin's positions on counterterrorism issues pertaining to civil liberties are not yet clear, but it would probably be reasonable to assume that her views on this issue are similar to those of John McCain.

Sarah Palin is something of an enigma, as her experience has been strictly executive--as mayor of a small Alaska town, and then (for two years) as governor of the state. My primary sources of information on her civil liberties platform are news reports detailing the 2006 Alaska governor's race--campaign promises, in other words.

That said, she is conspicuously socially conservative by Alaska standards. Her complete commitment to outlawing abortion (even in cases of health, rape, and incest, where McCain would make exceptions), banning same-sex marriage and state employee domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples, and promoting the teaching of creationism in public schools mark her as a candidate of the Religious Right, even though her views are not very different from those of McCain in practical terms.

If your main issue of concern is gun rights, then she's the best of any candidate on either major-party ticket--her A+ NRA rating contrasts with McCain's C and the F shared by both Obama and Biden. The only presidential primary candidate of either party who scored an A+ NRA rating, it should be noted, was Bill Richardson. Her views on gun rights are a Second Amendment advocate's dream.

But on most other civil liberties issues, she is discernibly more authoritarian than McCain. We don't know much about Sarah Palin yet, but one thing we do know is that civil liberties aren't her strong suit.