On Wednesday, the House of Representatives bucked intense pressure from the Bush administration and refused to support a ten-year extension for some of the Patriot Act's most controversial powers.
Our efforts to reform the worst parts of the Patriot Act, which allow too much government access to sensitive personal records without any facts connecting them to a foreign terrorist, were given a big boost this week.
After the Capitol Hill event, more than a dozen librarians went with ACLU members to the Justice Department to deliver 25,000 petition signatures from supporters all over the country who want the government to "Let John Doe Speak."
Last week, people concerned about the Patriot Act's secretive powers came together in Washington to demand that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "Let John Doe Speak". John Doe is the pseudonym for the Connecticut member of the American Library Association who received a secret National Security Letter from the FBI, demanding personal records. Read More»
The Senate's treatment of John Roberts' prior nominations reveals some of the institutional difficulties the political branches have struggled with serving as a check on the independent judicial branch of our federal government.
For the past few decades in particular, since the defeat by filibuster of
Roberts' work, intellect and devotion to the Reagan agenda won him a post at the White House Counsel's Office, a plum job that combines high profile with more mundane ones. His memos from that time reveal both a keen intellect and a zeal for some pretty controversial policy positions. After a sti
After a summer of movie prequels, this fall brings us the final chapter of John Roberts' ambition to serve on the United States Supreme Court. But long before the nation knew Roberts' name, he was subject to not just one but two failed nominations to our appellate courts. The fact that he was rebuffed
Last week in Washington, people were waiting anxiously for the decision in the ACLU lawsuit challenging an FBI demand for records from a member of the American Library Association. We had heard that a decision was likely by the end of the week.
Around five o'clock last night, before the Senate broke for its annual August recess, the Specter-Feinstein bill to reauthorize the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act passed. This bipartisan bill was approved through a process called "unanimous consent," where the leaders of both parties get c
Just yesterday, the FBI testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the failures in their process for hiring translators to translate foreign intelligence, and made a pitch for administrative subpoenas. In June the Senate Intelligence Committee had a secret meeting to report out a bill that would give the FBI this power -- the power to write it
