The Threat Response Differential: 9/11 versus January 6
Our failure to roll back 9/11-driven executive power grabs and "coup proof" our government against internal authoritarian political threats may come back to haunt us, and soon.
Latest
The 118th Congress's Unfinished Business: Civil Liberties Protections
The institutional threats to our constitutional rights left unaddressed by the federal legislature are major, long standing, and perfectly exploitable by a would-be authoritarian like Trump.
COINTELPRO: The Legacy
It was a secret, and unconstitutional, assault on the First Amendment protected activities of the persons and entities involved, a state-sponsored form of "divide and conquer" aimed not at the Soviet Union, but a segment of the far left public in America.
Will Democrats Leave The Republic At Risk Of A Future Right Wing Coup Attempt?
The DNC party platform reflects a pre-Trump era mindset, ignoring the need to eliminate legal and institutional vulnerabilities that leave us at risk of another "MAGA movement" coup attempt. Kamala Harris must act to "coup proof" the institutions of the Republic.
All But Memory Holed: How the 9/11 Commission Failed America
The most recent revelations in the 9/11 families' court action against the Saudi government provide the most powerful public evidence yet that at least some Saudi government officials in D.C. and Los Angeles played a direct role in facilitating the 9/11 attacks.
Supreme Court Follies: Internal Checkpoint Edition
Marshall and Brennan were certain that the majority's ruling in the case would ultimately lead to Fourth Amendment rights violations at scale at these internal checkpoints. History has proven them right.
Book Review: "Before the Badge: How Academy Training Shapes Police Violence," by Samantha J. Simon
A University of Arizona sociologist provides a provocative but selective and ideologically tinged look at how police in four Texas law enforcement agencies are trained and fielded and what it tells us about the viability of police reform efforts.
A New Race, A Fresh Start
In light of the mortal threat Trump poses to the Republic, Democrats must now unite behind the person best positioned to beat him: Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Reaping What Is Sown
President Biden now faces the single greatest crisis of his presidency less than four months before what's likely to be the most contentious national election in decades. Given Trump's stated intentions for another term in office, it's hard to imagine how the stakes could be higher.
Election 2024: Paradigm Shift
Two events in the space of five days altered the contours of the fall national election and the stakes for the survival of the Republic in 2025 and beyond. To avert catastrophe, anti-Trump forces must shift their focus from the presidency to Congress.
America's Citizen Government Oversight Tool: The Freedom of Information Act Nears Sixty
Enacted on Independence Day 1966, the venerable open government law is hated by federal bureaucrats who waste no opportunity trying to find new ways to thwart its use. While still a valuable government oversight tool, FOIA needs rejuvenation if it is to remain viable.
American Big Brother: A Century of Surveillance
Sometimes, it's helpful to look at a phenomenon over time to understand how pervasive it is in reality. That's especially true of surveillance-enabled political repression.
Dogs
A Rare Civil Liberties Win (For Now) and Dogs That Need Your Help
For the first time in the post-9/11 era, the House delivered a clear cut win against the use of indefinite detention by U.S. military forces in the "War on Terror." In other news, dogs suffering via a horrific Pentagon medical experimentation program need your help.
Warner's FISA "Fix": The Oxymoron of "Secret Law" in a Republic
The Senate Intelligence Committee leader just released his "fix" for a new, radically overbroad Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority signed into law two months ago. The public may not know for years--or ever--if it worked. And a new provision on American's geolocation info should worry
Arab Americans
Raw, Unchecked Executive Power Would Fuel Trump's Anti-migrant Terror Campaign
Under GOP and Democrat administrations, America has a long, dark history of using "enemies lists," due process free detention, and political sabotage against the enemies of those in power. If elected, Trump may add more such hideous episodes to that history. The week of June 10, the House
Al Qaeda
Memorial Day Birthday: No-Such-Agency Turns 65
One day before Memorial Day and with little fanfare, on May 29, 1959, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Security Agency Act. It's been spying on foreigners, and Americans, ever since. Thirty-three days after my 18th birthday, I raised my right hand and took an oath to
Joe Biden
Political Establishment to College Kids: Protest is Fine, Unless It Challenges the Establishment
In the decades-long battle between Palestinians and Israelis, America's political elites long ago picked a side. That choice isn't sitting well with young people, and police using violence against the protesters only discredits the Establishment further in their eyes.
air travel
No Scan, No Fly: The Future of Domestic Air Travel?
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is determined to force passengers guilty of no crime to submit to facial recognition scanning in order to board their flight. Some in Congress are fighting the move.
Congress
Toxic Legacy: Hoover, the Bureau, and the American Surveillance State
Over five decades after his death, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI is among the greatest daily threats to the constitutional rights of Americans. That must change.
Congress
What is Old is New Again: Politically Weaponizing the Tax Code Against Nonprofits
A bipartisan group of House and Senate members seem intent on reviving one of the most odious tactics ever developed to go after civil society nonprofits they don't like
Congress
Radical FISA Expansion Clears Congress, Will Become Law
A more than year-long battle over America's most controversial and abused surveillance power ended in total victory for Surveillance State defenders. To reverse the damage, civil libertarians must build an electoral capacity to eject from Congress those who subvert the Bill of Rights.
News
FISA Fight Resumes, TikTok Hypocrisy Rampant
Newsletter
Nothing "Great" About It: World War I, the Rise of the American National Security State, and the Espionage Act
The "Great War" ushered in the modern national security apparatus, and with it, a secrecy law as draconian as it is ineffective at protecting real secrets
Newsletter
Book Review: "Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom: The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era," by Michael J. Glennon
A former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer-turn-law professor's full throated, timely defense of the First Amendment