News & Commentary

A run-of-the-mill public records request about cell phone surveillance submitted to a local police department in Florida has unearthed blatant violations of open government laws, including an incredible seizure of state records by the U.S. Marshals Service, which is part of the Justice Department. Today the ACLU and the ACLU of Florida filed an emergency motion in state court to preserve the public’s right of access to government records.

A magistrate judge in New York has become only the second federal judge to issue a public ruling addressing the lawfulness of so-called “tower dumps”—the intrusive practice by which the government acquires location information for hundreds or thousands of Americans at a time. The judge ruled after inviting the ACLU and the New York Civil Liberties Union to submit a brief in the case in light of the novelty of the issue. And although we disagree with the court’s decision not to require the government to get a warrant before resorting to invasive tower dumps, the court’s decision to demand that the government institute privacy protections for innocent bystanders is a step forward.

Friday was a slow news day in DC.

The government is continuing to fight on various fronts to keep its torture program secret. It's not going to win.

It's an old tradition that a year after a couple's wedding, they eat a slice of their wedding cake.

It's often said that people should be judged by their actions, not merely their words. The same is true of institutions, even the Department of Defense (DoD).

After he returned from Iraq both homeless and out of work, Stephan Papa spent one night in a drunken misadventure. Convicted of destruction of property and resisting arrest, Mr. Papa was sentenced to pay $2600 in fines and court fees.

When faced with government brutality and, in its aftermath, a total lack of justice for victims we have two choices: we can despair, or we can fight back.

There’s a lot the Senate can and should do to improve upon the version of the USA Freedom Act passed by the House of Representatives last week. (My colleague Gabe Rottman outlines some of the most necessary changes here.) That includes one of the most troubling aspects of the agency’s phone-records program: the shadow database of Americans’ phone records, otherwise known as the “corporate store.” Trouble is, the bill’s language, as passed out of the House, makes it impossible to know whether the provision would actually add urgently needed privacy protections.