Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation Attorney Appointed Legal Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Portland- The Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation is very pleased to announce the appointment of Zachary Heiden to Legal Director of the MCLU.  As the staff attorney at the MCLU for the last three years, Heiden has worked tirelessly on a wide variety of civil liberties issues. 

“Zach is a passionate and informed defender of civil liberties,” said Shenna Bellows, MCLU Executive Director.  “He is an invaluable advocate for the rights of Mainers, and we look forward to his expanded role in directing the MCLU’s legal program.”

In the case of Timothy Sullivan and Larry Dansinger v. City of Augusta, Heiden worked with MCLU cooperating counsel David Webbert of Johnson & Webbert to defend freedom of speech and the right of Maine citizens to protest in the public square.  In Julia Anderson, et al. v. Town of Durham, et al., Heiden worked with MCLU cooperating counsel Jeffrey Thaler of Bernstein Shur to successfully defend religious freedom and the State of Maine’s right to refuse to fund religious education.  Currently, Heiden is representing the Maine Civil Liberties Union as an intervenor in the ongoing challenges to a Maine Public Utilities Commission investigation into the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program.

As Legal Director, Heiden will lead the legal advocacy work of the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation.  The MCLU legal program works to preserve and advance the civil liberties of the people of Maine through litigation in the courts and advocacy.

A graduate of Bowdoin College, the University of Florida, and the Boston College Law School, Heiden has served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Susan Calkins, Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and has worked as a Litigation Associate at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP in Boston.

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