Civil Liberties
1,474 Articles
Why the Constitutional Holding in Klayman Wasn’t Necessary
24 hours later, Judge Leon’s 68-page opinion issuing (and then staying) a preliminary injunction against the NSA’s bulk telephony metadata program continues to generate…
Judge Leon Enjoins Bulk Metadata Program; Stays Ruling Pending Appeal
Things just got interesting here in D.C. In a ruling issued earlier today, Judge Richard Leon has held that Larry Klayman and Charles Strange have standing to challenge the bulk…
Can §215 Be Used for Content Collection?
At this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the National Security Agency’s surveillance authorities, Sen. Patrick Leahy posed a crucial question to the government’s…
Reply to Charlie Dunlap on Sexual Assault Reform Proposals
In this post, I offer this reply to Charlie Dunlap’s post (the “Post”), as well as his underlying essay (the “Essay”), in which he provides full-throated opposition to…
Associated Forces, Material Support, and the Hidden Flaws in Ali v. Obama
As Steve previously noted over at Lawfare, on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the denial of yet another Guantánamo habeas petition in Ali v. Obama. Specifically, the court…
Latest Snowden Documents Show NSA Tracks Americans’ Cell Location Data
Today’s Washington Post report that the National Security Agency (NSA) is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world should light…
Is the Draft UN Resolution on the Right to Privacy a Trojan Horse for Libertarians?
In response to recent revelations of NSA foreign surveillance programs, the UN General Assembly appears poised to adopt a Resolution on the international right to privacy. Because…
Transcript of Oral Argument in ACLU v. Clapper
We’ve finally got a transcript from the Nov. 22 hearing in ACLU v. Clapper, the ACLU’s challenge to the NSA’s mass call-tracking program. The transcript is here. Particularly…
Square Peg, Round Hole – How the FISC has misapplied FISA to Allow for Bulk Metadata Collection
The recent treasure trove of NSA documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence included an opinion by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that…
NSA SEXINT is the Abuse You’ve All Been Waiting For
In the latest news report based on documents revealed by Edward Snowden, we’ve learned that the NSA creates profiles of porn viewing, online sexual activity and more from its…
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…