Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles
Norms Watch: Tracking the Erosion of Democratic Traditions (Feb. 3-10)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest installment of Norms Watch, our series tracking both the flouting of democratic norms by the Trump administration and the erosion of…
Trump/Bannon Plan to Counter “Violent Islamic Extremism”—A Gift to White Supremacists, and Islamic Terrorists Too
When Trump’s homeland security “landing team” recently visited the offices of administration officials working on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), they stated that the…
Police Militarization in the Trump Era
Since his swearing in, President Donald Trump has issued a flurry of controversial Executive Orders. One frequently overlooked yet dramatically important issue that has yet to…
Yates Letter Points to Evidence Showing Executive Order Unconstitutional
As Acting Attorney General, Sally Yates dropped a bombshell late Monday, telling Justice Department employees that the DOJ would not defend Trump’s executive order on “immigrants…
How Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration Violates Religious Freedom Laws
The ACLU and other lawyers are filing complaints across the country against Trump’s executive order on immigration. Yet these lawsuits do not always bring the strongest—or…
Why a Muslim Ban is Likely to be Held Unconstitutional: The Myth of Unconstrained Immigration Power
Over the last few days, constitutional debates around the executive order President Trump signed on Friday have focused on two very different questions. The first is whether the…
The Airport Cases: What Happened, and What’s Next?
Obviously, the story of the morning on Monday is going to be the rather tumultuous weekend that resulted from the Executive Order on immigration signed by President Trump late…
The Muslim Ban, Judicial Review, and the Supreme Court
There’s so much to say about the Executive Order on immigration issued on Friday by President Trump. Much of it has been said by Ben Wittes, in his fantastic post on “Malevolence…
We’ll See You in Court: Why Trump’s Executive Order on Refugees Violates the Establishment Clause
According to the Supreme Court, “the clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” Larson v.…
Reflections on the prejudice in the draft Exec Order’s vetting of “prejudice”
On ABC News Wednesday night, President Donald Trump once again said that people coming into the United States would be subjected to “extreme vetting.” I think his expected…
What Did the Courts Say When Bush was Accused of Targeting Muslim Immigrants?
Looking out my window in lower Manhattan, and with Donald Trump’s inauguration just a few days behind us, it’s hard to stop thinking that a Muslim man, sitting in a chair with…
The U.S. Constitution and the Risk of Democratic Backsliding
Is there a real possibility of the erosion of democratic institutions toward authoritarianism in the United States? What can the experience of other countries tell us about how…