ACLU
44 Articles
ACLU Takes Phone-Records Challenge to Appeals Court
The ACLU has just filed its opening brief in the Second Circuit in its challenge to the NSA’s phone-records program. The brief—the first appellate brief to be filed in any…
The Muhtorov Constitutional Challenge to Section 702
Jamshid Muhtorov is a lawful permanent U.S. resident and a criminal defendant in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, charged with providing material support to…
Section 215 Telephone Metadata Collection: The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board Trashes Pretty Much Everyone
Wow. There’s really no other way to capture what the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board told the nation today in its 200+ page report on the NSA’s telephone metadata…
Privacy Board Debunks Purported Justification for NSA’s Phone-Records Dragnet
The just-released report of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is rigorous and well-written, and it’s worth reading in its entirety. One section warranting particular…
Bulk Data Collection and the Mosaic Theory: A More Balanced Approach to Information
The pending challenges in ACLU v. Clapper and Klayman v. Obama (now on appeal before the Second Circuit and D.C. Circuit, respectively) raise the question of whether the mosaic…
Could the NSA’s Telephony Metadata Program Have Prevented 9/11? Judge William Pauley v. Lawrence Wright
In an earlier post, I proposed some analytic tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the NSA’s telephony metadata program – in light of recommendations by the President’s…
FISC Approves Application to Renew Telephony Metadata Program [UPDATED]
Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified and announced that the FISC has approved the government’s application to renew the telephony metadata…
Prediction: Fourth Amendment Evolves in 2014
When should courts follow legal precedent and when should the law change? This is a debate that underlies this month’s contrary decisions about the constitutionality of government…
Very Summary Account of Judge Pauley’s Opinion on the 215 Telephony Metadata Program
I’ll defer to others for substantive analysis of Judge Pauley’s opinion. To facilitate discussion, however, here is a very abbreviated roadmap of his holdings, based…
Judge Pauley (SDNY) Rules NSA Bulk Telephony Metadata Program is Constitutional
Earlier this month, Judge Leon (D.D.C.) issued a ruling enjoining the NSA metadata program under Section 215 (and then staying his decision pending appeal), noting that the…
Joint Letter from NGOs and Human Rights Groups to President Obama on Drone Program
Yesterday, a group of civil liberties and human rights groups wrote a joint letter to President Obama sharing their concerns with the U.S. drone program. The group, which includes…
Transcript of Oral Argument in ACLU v. Clapper
We’ve finally got a transcript from the Nov. 22 hearing in ACLU v. Clapper, the ACLU’s challenge to the NSA’s mass call-tracking program. The transcript is here. Particularly…