Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles

OmniCISA Pits DHS Against the FCC and FTC on User Privacy
On Friday, Congress will vote on a mutated version of security threat sharing legislation that had previously passed through the House and Senate. These earlier versions would…

Cruz & Rubio’s Confusing USA Freedom Exchange
A few reporters have asked me about a slightly odd exchange between GOP presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz at last night’s primary debate, so I thought it might…

Why Aren’t Criminal Defendants Getting Notice of Section 702 Surveillance — Again?
Since the Snowden disclosures began, the government’s massive surveillance operations under Section 702 of FISA have increasingly drawn public scrutiny. Section 702 is the authority…

What’s Missing from Constitutional Analyses of Donald Trump’s Muslim Immigration Ban
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 10, 2015 at 12:50am. On Tuesday, I wrote a short piece for CNN.com explaining why Donald Trump’s proposed ban…

European Human Rights Court Deals a Heavy Blow to the Lawfulness of Bulk Surveillance
In a seminal decision updating and consolidating its previous jurisprudence on surveillance, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights took a sideways swing at mass…

Cy Vance’s Proposal to Backdoor Encrypted Devices Is Riddled With Vulnerabilities
Less than a week after the attacks in Paris — while the public and policymakers were still reeling, and the investigation had barely gotten off the ground — Cy Vance, Manhattan’s…

The Government’s Surprising (and Flawed) New Attack on Habeas Corpus in Immigration Cases
These days, most discussions of the US Constitution’s Suspension Clause — and the entitlement to judicial review that it codifies — center upon non-citizen terrorism suspects…

Cross-Border Data Requests: A Response to Greg Nojeim
Editor’s note: This post also appears on Lawfare. Last week on Lawfare, Greg Nojeim responded to — and raised a set of questions about — our proposed framework for dealing…

Texas and the Syrian Refugees
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to take up United States v. Texas, a suit by 26 states challenging the deferred action program introduced by President Obama in November…

An Update on European Measures Addressing Terrorism in the Aftermath of the French Attacks
In the aftermath of multiple terrorist atrocities in Paris on November 13, concerted legal and policy action is being taken both domestically and regionally. Coordinated regional…

Counting to Six in Al Bahlul IV
I have nothing of substance to add to Marty’s excellent recap of this morning’s en banc D.C. Circuit oral argument in “Al Bahlul IV,” and agree with him entirely that…

Abstention and the “Other” D.C. Circuit Military Commission Appeal
Lots of attention has been focused both here and elsewhere in recent days on tomorrow’s en banc oral argument before the D.C. Circuit in “Al Bahlul IV,” which makes a lot…