Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles

Animus, Not Readiness: Trump & Mattis Move Full Steam Ahead on Unconstitutional Trans Military Ban
While it all started with an early morning tweet (as it so often does), this week President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis both took steps to enshrine Trump’s…

President Trump’s Hostility to the News Media: Reckless driving or premeditated assault?
On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, held a press conference at his headquarters in Geneva, intending to focus on systematic…

Just Another Mattis Pep Talk?: How “Hold the Line” speaks to civilian and military audiences
A video clip of Defense Secretary James Mattis speaking with troops deployed in Jordan has been making the rounds on various social media outlets, with varied and strong…

A Post-Charlottesville Reading List
Top image: A man makes a slashing motion across his throat toward counter-protesters as he marches with neo-Nazis and other rascist groups during the ‘Unite the Right’…

Opponents of Closing Sec. 702’s Backdoor Search Loophole are Distorting How the Fix Works
With less than five months to go until Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires, we still do not have a clear path forward to a reauthorization that…

A Round-Up of Just Security’s Coverage of Trump’s Trans Ban
It’s been over two weeks since President Donald Trump tweeted his decision to ban transgender people from serving from the military. On the Wednesday it happened, the White House…

In the U.S.-U.K. Deal, Both Sides Deserve Scrutiny
We recently published an analysis in Lawfare of the United Kingdom’s surveillance framework as it relates to the proposed U.S.-U.K. agreement for cross-border law enforcement…

Tweets, Trans, and the American Military
On the morning of July 26, President Donald Trump turned out a triptych of tweets taking a policy position banning transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. military.…

We Are Already in a State of Emergency
As Trump reissues his “lock her up” talk against Hillary Clinton and assaults the Justice Department, FBI, and media, the Brennan Center recently had a prescient meeting about…

Fighting Terrorism Without Dividing Us: Why Congress Must Look Beyond Countering Violent Extremism
On Thursday July 27, the National Security Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on “Combatting Homegrown Terrorism.”…

Back to the Supreme Court on the Scope of the Entry Ban Injunction: First Thoughts
Thursday night, Judge Watson issued a ruling rejecting two of the ways in which the government has interpreted the Supreme Court’s modification of the preliminary injunctions…

David Cole on Stopping Authoritarianism’s Rise in the United States
Since becoming National Legal Director of the ACLU, Just Security editorial board member David Cole has been spending a lot of time in Just Security’s home base of New…