Blog of Rights
Michelle
Richardson

Michelle Richardson is a Legislative Counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office where she focuses on national security and government transparency issues such as the Patriot Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, cybersecurity, state secrets and the Freedom of Information Act. Before coming to the ACLU in 2006, Richardson served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee where she specialized in national security, civil rights and constitutional issues for Democratic Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.).

10/06/2011
Cybersecurity

Happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month!

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:50pm

We would like to educate you about how cybersecurity may justify the next series of big brother powers.

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09/14/2011
9/11 Blog Series

The Government Might Know You're Reading This

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:01pm

"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."

Many Americans have said this, or heard it, when discussing the expanded surveillance capabilities the government has claimed since 9/11. But it turns out you should be concerned. Just ask peace activists in Pittsburgh, anti-death penalty activists in Maryland, Ron Paul supporters in Missouri, an anarchist in Texas, groups on both sides of the abortion debate in Wisconsin, Muslim-Americans and many others who pose no threat to their communities. Some of them were labeled as terrorists in state and federal databases or placed on terror watch-lists, impeding their travel, misleading investigators and putting these innocent Americans at risk.

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05/27/2011

Four More Years of Unchecked Spying, Surveillance and Secrecy

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:22pm

Last night, Congress passed and the president signed a four-year extension of three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act. You may recall that the original expiration was scheduled for December 31, 2009 — and what did Congress do after 18 months of short term extensions, sporadic hearings and a markup or two? Nothing. The Patriot Act was reauthorized as-is without a single additional privacy protection. After a rollercoaster week of Patriot Act consideration there were some definite winners and losers:

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03/15/2011
Patriot Act

Howlers on the Patriot Act

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project & Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:44pm

The Patriot Act has been surrounded by a cloud of fear-mongering since it was reintroduced almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks and rushed through Congress, without any finding that the sweeping new powers granted by the act had anything to do with the problems and failures that contributed to that attack.

At the heart of the issue has been confusion between giving the authorities surveillance powers, and giving them unchecked surveillance powers. Much of what the Patriot Act did was to remove independent judges from oversight over invasions of privacy conducted in the name of law enforcement and national security.

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08/04/2010

FBI's Latest Power Grab Is a Bold and Unnecessary Move

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:17pm

What do the ACLU, the former director of the NSA and a tech industry lawyer all have in common (and this is not a joke)? They believe that the government's recent request to let the FBI get Americans' internet use records in national security investigations without going to court, and without any suspicion of wrongdoing, is a huge expansion of authority that would open floodgates of sensitive information to the FBI.

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04/01/2010

Gang of Eight Members Want a Bigger Gang

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:37pm

The “gang of eight” is a group of members of Congress with a pretty sweet name that includes the leaders, both Democrat and Republican, of the Senate and House, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The “gang” is briefed on covert intelligence matters by the administration when the president “determines it is essential to limit access” to classified or national security information in “extraordinary circumstances.” The "gang" is also sworn to secrecy to not disclose this information to anyone, even other members of Congress.

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05/29/2008

FISA "Compromise" Is Actually Not A Compromise At All, Thank You

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:28pm

I'm sure you've heard about Senator Bond's proposed "compromise." He floated an outline late last week at a press conference that represents what he calls his last offer in the negotiations about whether and how to expand our foreign intelligence wiretapping laws. While we've only seen a couple key pieces of the legislation, the summary and Congress' past actions, speak volumes. Watch out for these so-called "concessions" that very well may be sold to you as moderate compromises that protect civil liberties:

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10/18/2007

FISA Train Speeds Off the Tracks

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:21pm
Yesterday the FISA train came off the rails in a big way - oddly enough, right as the House was taking up railroad safety. After beginning a debate in the morning, then breaking for a short recess, the Republicans offered a particularly nasty motion to recommit (or MTR, which sends the bill back to
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08/03/2007

FISA Fight Sends Congress Into Twilight Zone

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 5:40pm
Ladies and gentlemen, you are now entering the Twilight Zone. The House is in an uproar over this FISA overhaul.

Republicans object to the fact that the public never saw the FISA bills currently barrelling through Congress. Meanwhile, Read More»
07/26/2007

We're Itching For a Fight With Some Contempt

By Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 8:47am
Yesterday we saw the beginning of what the media is calling a "showdown" between Capitol Hill and the White House. We hope it grows into a full-on rumble. The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contemp
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