Civil Liberties
1,474 Articles
10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Reading Jameel Jaffer’s “The Drone Memos”
Jameel Jaffer’s new book, The Drone Memos: Targeted Killing, Secrecy, and the Law, will be published on November 15, and hard copies will also be available at Just Security’s…
The Drone Memos—The Book
My new book, The Drone Memos, will be published on November 15. It’s a collection of the most important legal and policy documents relating to the U.S. drone campaign, preceded…
Is Throwing a Rock Through a Window “Terrorism”? Some Federal Prosecutors Think So
Image by Tomas Castelazo— Wikimedia Did you know that throwing a rock through the window of a Whole Foods could be punished as a federal crime of terrorism? An Assistant United…
New UN Report Highlights Freedom of Expression Violations Across the Globe
UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, yesterday issued his fourth report, a comprehensive survey…
Today’s En Banc D.C. Circuit Ruling in Al Bahlul…
163 pages later, we’re back where we started. Six of the nine judges on the en banc D.C. Circuit (with Chief Judge Garland and Judge Srinivasan not participating) voted…
More Guantánamo Mishegas (The Unlawful Detention of a US Citizen Edition)
Just when it seems like the ongoing, neverending saga that is the Guantánamo military commissions can’t get any stranger, there’s this: As Carol Rosenberg (who else)…
Mass Hacks of Private Email Aren’t Whistleblowing, They are at Odds With It
The Exxon Valdez after leaking more than 10 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in March, 1989. Image via NOAA/Wikimedia The world of 2016 is one where…
The Dangerous Implications of the Microsoft Ireland Case
Yesterday evening, the government filed its petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc in the Microsoft Ireland case. Throughout the brief, the government warns of both the…
Hot off the Presses: DOJ Rehearing Petition in the Microsoft Ireland Case (Full Text)
DOJ filed the attached motion tonight, seeking rehearing or reaching en banc in the Microsoft Ireland case. In the government’s words: “The [panel] Opinion has created…
“A First Amendment in the Digital Age”—Peter Zenger Lecture
I had the honor of delivering the inaugural Peter Zenger lecture at Columbia Journalism School last week. The lecture is named for a newspaper publisher who was tried for libel…
Are Companies Bulk-Scanning E-mails for Spy Agencies?
UPDATE: Charlie Savage and Nicole Perlroth have an article in The New York Times resolving quite a few of the questions raised here; I’ve added comments as appropriate.…
The UK Snooper’s Charter and the Anderson Report on Bulk Powers
In August, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, released his “Report of the Bulk Powers Review”. He was asked to undertake the review…