American Civil Liberties Union

A bill was introduced today in the House that replicates a criminal justice bill already making good headway in the Senate. The National Criminal Justice Commission Act would create a bipartisan commission to study the American justice system and offer recommendations to ease imbalance and, well, injustice.

ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Laura Murphy watches as Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) speaks about the need for criminal justice system reform.

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

Today the ACLU, along with a broad coalition of human rights and civil liberties groups, sent a letter to the Senate urging senators to defeat a bill that would force the Obama administration to try terrorism suspects in the unconstitutional military commissions. The bill was introduced earlier this month by Sen Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and is almost identical to an amendment the senator offered last year (which was defeated soundly). The bill, S. 2977, would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to prosecute the alleged 9/11 plotters in federal criminal court. The intent of the bill, in the end, is to force the administration's hand. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has introduced a similar companion bill in the House.

The Washington Legislative Office’s Acting Director, Michael Macleod-Ball, is set to testify before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment on Tuesday morning. The hearing, “Violent Extremism: How Are People Moved from Constitutionally-Protected Thought to Acts of Terrorism?” should be pretty fascinating. 

Good news on national security legislation. I know! I can hardly believe it myself!

The USA Patriot Amendments Act was marked up this week in an epic House Judiciary Committee meeting that spanned two days. The bill, though a bit watered down, still managed to maintain some of its civil liberties protections including:

• A rewrite of the gag order that comes with national security letters (NSLs). That provision is consistent with a recent decision in a case challenging the gag order by yours truly, the ACLU.
• A higher and stricter standard on issuing NSLs
• Letting the never-used “lone wolf” provision expire
• Much needed fixes to the John Doe roving wiretap provision

There are now a total of seven bills in Congress addressing the Patriot Act since three of the Act’s provisions are set to expire on December 31st. The USA Patriot Amendments Act is the best of the bunch that Congress is actively considering.