President Obama’s speech yesterday, presenting his vision of a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy, included welcome rhetoric about the importance of constitutional principles, including Due Process and rights to dissent. It may represent the high watermark for civil liberties since his inauguration five years ago. It is disappointing, given his thoughtful words, that he ignored so many [...]

Why Holder’s letter carries little water Last week, Senator Rand Paul (R-TX) forced  a long overdue conversation in Washington  about checks and balances on executive power. Yet few observers recognize the ultimate importance of his actions, or why the Senate’s confirmation of the new CIA director remained premature. Prompted by Sen. Paul’s filibuster last Wednesday, Attorney General Holder [...]

A bipartisan filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to lead the CIA riveted Washington on Wednesday. Senators from both sides of the partisan aisle, led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), took to the Senate floor to force further debate on a nomination that should not proceed. Sen. Paul’s 12 hours of comments included a succinct and clear [...]

Comprehensive immigration reform, along with the fiscal cliff and sequester, has recently dominated Washington. But observers have overlooked how calls for stronger immigration enforcement could undermine the rights of not only immigrants, but also US citizens. Conservative members of Congress have demanded tighter enforcement as a condition of considering meaningful reform of federal immigration policy. But [...]

This article was originally published on the People’s Blog for the Constitution . Tuesday’s decision by the Supreme Court in Clapper vs Amnesty Int’l reflects judicial formalism at its worst. The decision abandons fundamental rights and the courts’ constitutional mandate, while placing government agencies above the law, so long as they commit their abuses in secret. Clapper is a constitutional travesty [...]

This article was originally published on the People’s Blog for the Constitution and is the first in a forthcoming series articulating specific civil liberties recommendations for the second Obama administration. President Obama’s reelection has sparked an onslaught of analysis attempting to define the agenda for his second term. Will it reflect the  vision of restoring liberty and security  on which [...]

This week, Congress prepares to abuse the Constitution again, by extending its 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). With the House of Representatives poised to vote today on a premature five year extension, will members remember what they heard when theatrically reading the Constitution on the House floor, or instead entrench the [...]

On Tuesday, August 14, a federal judge issued a disturbing ruling allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to evade public accountability for infiltrating faith institutions, monitoring law-abiding people, recording sexual encounters, and then lying about all of it. Carney’s decision erodes democracy in two dimensions at once, enabling ongoing constitutional violations by the executive branch [...]

Both 2012 presidential campaigns advance the legacy of Dick Cheney Among the most tragic casualties of the war on terror is the separation of powers that our Founders envisioned to help keep America free. Not only has executive power expanded to disturbing – and profoundly dangerous – proportions in the decade since the 9-11 attacks, but [...]

When the United States championed democracy, freedom, and opportunity, it made sense to celebrate the Fourth of July.  But are we still promoting those values? If we are paragons of neither opportunity nor freedom, what exactly do we celebrate today? Our Statue of Liberty bears an inscription welcoming the world’s “tired and poor…huddled masses yearning to [...]

This is the final part of a 3-part FAQ about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that began with Another Assault in the Dead of Night and continued with Torture Enabling Expanded Detention . The first installment explained how the NDAA could be used as a tool for political repression , especially in concert with parallel powers expanded by the [...]

This is the second part of a 3-part series about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that began with ” Another Assault in the Dead of Night “.  As I concluded there:

elieve the hype: the NDAA’s detention provisions represent a frontal assault on the Bill of Rights. They are noxious now. They will be worse in the [...]