News & Commentary

Newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson wrapped up a two-day visit to the southwest border region last week, starting in McAllen, Texas, and ending in Tucson, Ariz. The stated purpose of the trip was to "tour border operations, receive briefings on the department's efforts to secure the border while facilitating lawful travel and trade, and meet with state and local law enforcement officials and other stakeholders."

Washington may be in a deep freeze right now, but even the cold can't ruin the excitement in the air. Tomorrow is one of the best days of the year here in DC.

What Canadian celebrity, arrested for drag racing this week, could be deported if convicted of a felony?

Federal courts are scrutinizing the government's use of its secret No Fly List, and they don't like what they see. In two recent decisions, judges have either rejected or expressed skepticism about the government's arguments for secrecy and against a meaningful process for people to challenge their inclusion on the blacklist that bans them from travel to or from the United States or over American airspace. These decisions come on the heels of an August 2013 ruling in the ACLU's No Fly List challenge, in which a court found, in a first-of-its-kind preliminary ruling, that our clients' ability to fly internationally is protected by the Constitution.

This piece was originally published on Slate.

"We just want to be married."

Yesterday I wrote about how the spread of cameras throughout our public lives is irrevocably changing our privacy in public spaces, as well as society expectations around video surveillance—with people increasingly surprised when an unusual incident that takes place in public is not captured on video.

Guess what crime is the most prosecuted at the federal level in the United States? Rape? Murder? Assault? Robbery? Racketeering? Financial fraud?