News & Commentary

Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing has generated much debate within the United States over whether his leaking of NSA documents was a heroic act or something deserving of punishment. And the NSA activities that he has revealed have similarly generated controversy. I know some very thoughtful people who I see eye-to-eye with on the vast majority of political issues, who nonetheless see this story completely differently from me. They think that the NSA scandal is overblown, and view Snowden with an extremely dubious eye.

Which government whistleblower responsible for revealing the NSA's massive spying program released a statement encouraging Americans to rally against pervasive surveillance?

On The Daily Show Wednesday, we had the misfortune of hearing from North Carolina GOP executive committee member Don Yelton, whose despicable comments on North Carolina's new voter suppression law included "if it hurts a bunch of lazy Blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it."

Earlier this week, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry. I've been doing advocacy around marriage for well over a decade, and for me the arguments highlighted in several ways just how far the country has come on the marriage issue over that time.

History has taught us that pervasive government surveillance has a profoundly adverse effect on the exercise of free speech – a universal right enshrined both in the Constitution and in international human rights law. This Monday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hold its first-ever hearing on the NSA's mass surveillance programs and their impact on the right to freedom of expression and other related rights in the Americas.

Late last night, the ACLU and ACLU of Virginia filed an amicus brief urging a federal appeals court to overturn a contempt-of-court finding against Lavabit, the now-defunct secure email service provider. The company had been resisting a court order to hand over the private encryption keys relied on by the company’s 400,000 users to keep their information secure. (You can read our brief here, filed with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.).

The piece below was first published as part of the New York Times Room for Debate feature "If We're Spying, Are We Still ‘Allies'?" which discussed: After surveillance revelations, Brazil, France and Germany may be having second thoughts about the U.S.: In what sense are they "allies"?
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The military commission attorneys and judge are in Guantanamo Bay this week for the continuation of the 9/11 pretrial hearings – along with the ACLU's Chandra Bhatnagar, who is monitoring the proceedings.

If the government had its way, no one would have any idea that it regularly tracks all of our phone calls and much of our online activity.