Civil Liberties
1,369 Articles

What’s at Stake When Trump Discredits the Press
Donald Trump’s relentless media bashing has become one of the most persistent tropes of his cacophonous early time in office. He and his administration have called the press…

War of the Worst Case Scenarios
A few nightmare scenarios haunt the dreams of civil libertarians—scenes drawn from our long and ignominious history of intelligence abuses. One—call it the Nixon scenario—is…

Norms Watch: Tracking the Erosion of Democratic Traditions (Feb. 17-24)
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…

New Case Proves Intelligence Community Whistleblowers Have Protections
NSA headquarters, Ft. Meade, Md. In December, Adm. Mike Rogers, director of the NSA, placed the agency’s Inspector General (IG), Dr. George Ellard, on administrative leave and…

Just Security Event: Surveillance and the Trump Administration
Join Just Security for a fireside chat on U.S. surveillance and a celebration of Jennifer Granick‘s new book, American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, And What…

Trump’s CVE Program: Going From Bad to Worse
Men walk to Friday Prayer at the Omar Mosque in Paterson, N.J. in 2012 after revelations that the NYPD had crossed into New Jersey to conduct surveillance on Newark and area muslims.…
Will Protests Against Trump and Congressional Republicans Matter?
For grassroots organizing, it helps to be in the opposition. We are beginning to see a blossoming of liberal and left wing organizing to oppose President Trump and the Republican…

The United Divided States: San Francisco Sues Donald Trump for Sanctuary Cities Order
Amidst the well-placed outrage over Trump’s Executive Order selectively banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries – including an array of critiques, lawsuits,…

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…