Civil Liberties
1,361 Articles
Section 702, the Fourth Amendment, and Article III: The Muhtorov (Non-)Decision
Because of the difficulties civil litigants have encountered in challenging section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (as created by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008),…
Is the FBI Using Zero-Days in Criminal Investigations?
We have known for a while now that the FBI uses hacking techniques to conduct remote computer searches in criminal investigations — particularly those that involve the dark web.…
The Legal Legacy of the NSA’s Section 215 Bulk Collection Program
Last week’s opinion in Klayman v. Obama by Judge Richard Leon dealt another, emphatic(!) blow to the constitutionality of the NSA’s bulk phone record surveillance program under…
11/13/15
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
Power Wars Symposium: Where Did Things Go Wrong? Three Key Moments That Shaped Obama’s Failed Guantánamo Policy
Editor’s Note: This is the latest entry in a symposium Just Security is hosting in conjunction with the recent release of Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency by…
Judge Leon’s Poignant, Yet Pointless, Injunction in Klayman
A long time 12 days ago, I wrote a post sharply criticizing the Second Circuit for deciding not to decide the Fourth Amendment question in ACLU v. Clapper, which arises from the…
A Return to Authoritarianism in Egypt
Lawyers for human rights lawyer and journalist Hossam Bahgat have confirmed that Bahgat was detained Sunday by military officials, apparently in retaliation for his coverage of…
Reminder: Tech Firms Aren’t Always the Privacy Advocates We’d Like to Think They Are
Last weekend, news broke that Facebook had been informally lobbying lawmakers to let them know the company didn’t oppose the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA). The…
A Quick Update: Apple, Privacy, and the All Writs Act of 1789
Here’s the latest in the encryption case we’ve been writing about in which the Justice Department is asking Magistrate Judge James Orenstein to order Apple to unlock a criminal…
Orin Kerr’s Unconvincing Defense of Yesterday’s Second Circuit (Non-)Ruling
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, my friend Orin Kerr has a thoughtful post up about yesterday’s Second Circuit decision in ACLU v. Clapper, which refused to enjoin the…
Section 215 and “Fruitless” (?!?) Constitutional Adjudication
This morning, the Second Circuit issued a follow-on ruling to its May decision in ACLU v. Clapper (which had held that the NSA’s bulk telephone records program was unlawful…
The All Writs Act, Software Licenses, and Why Judges Should Ask More Questions
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…