The District’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is concerned that D.C. firefighters facing departmental disciplinary hearings are not receiving fair trials, according to a letter it sent to the D.C. attorney general’s office. Citing the demotion of one fire battalion chief and the transfer of another shortly after the men presided over disciplinary hearings and issued lesser punishments than were initially proposed to the firefighters involved, legal director for the ACLU of the Nation's Capital, Arthur Spitzer, criticized D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe and questioned whether employees can expect to receive due process in disciplinary hearings.