Civil Liberties
1,368 Articles
Milanovic on an Extraterritorial Right to Privacy
In light of recent “revelations” that the NSA–like its counterpart espionage agencies around the globe–engages in surveillance of many people overseas,…
ACLU Sues CIA for Release of Torture Reports
Yesterday, the ACLU filed a FOIA lawsuit to compel the CIA to disclose two reports on the CIA’s post-9/11 detention and interrogation programs. The full complaint can…
Center for National Security Studies’ Latest Filing for Amici Curiae in Section 215 Proceedings
On Friday, the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS) filed its latest pleading in its efforts to have the FISC enable third-party persons or organizations to submit amici…
Constitutional Advocates in Comparative Perspective
A number of proposed amendments aimed at reforming the FISA Court envisage a Constitutional Advocate or similar role. Marty Lederman and Steve Vladeck posted earlier here on…
The FISC’s Problematic Pen/Trap Opinion on Bulk Internet Metadata Collection
The latest round of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions released under the Freedom of Information Act includes what, for many surveillance wonks, has been the white…
Dahlia Lithwick and Me on Why Metadata Matters
I suspect we’ll have a lot more to say about today’s oral argument in New York in the ACLU’s challenge to the government’s “telephony metadata”…
New FISC Pen Register Opinion: It’s Just a Matter of Time Before Somebody Gets Hurt
Once again, the NSA has conducted illegal spying. New documents reveal the National Security Agency’s (NSA) systemic violation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)…
The D.C. Circuit and Guantánamo, Post-Filibuster Edition
I’ve written a lot (too much!) before about both the D.C. Circuit’s jurisprudence in post-Boumediene Guantánamo cases and the Supreme Court’s passivity in…
The New US “Red Line” – No Privacy Rights For Foreigners
Colum Lynch has a fascinating blog at Foreign Policy based on a leaked memo reflecting the United States’ latest “redline”: that no privacy rights be recognized for foreigners…
Early Thoughts on the New NSA Disclosures
There’s going to be a lot to say in the coming days and weeks about the more-than-six dozen surveillance-related documents declassified and disclosed yesterday by the ODNI.…
Hearing in Another Surveillance Challenge Today
In previous posts I’ve discussed filings in the two most prominent challenges to the government’s “Telephony Records Program.” Things are moving along…
Creative Ambiguity – International Law’s Distant Relationship with Peacetime Spying
In all the sound and fury over “five eye” intercept programs, commentators appear so far to have paid relatively little attention to international law. This is no simple…