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ACLU Urges Senate Committee to Pass Strong State Secrets Bill (04/24/2008)
Washington, DC – As the Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to mark up key legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the body to pass a bill that would allow Americans to hold their government accountable. The bill, introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), would limit the scope of the state secrets privilege. The Bush administration, which has threatened to veto Senator Kennedy’s bill, has used the privilege to halt several important lawsuits against the government, including an ACLU case involving the extraordinary rendition of an innocent German citizen, Khaled El-Masri.

ACLU Lauds Introduction of House State Secrets Bill (03/13/2008)
Washington, DC – Legislation introduced today may give a much-needed reprieve to those who have sued the government and encountered the state secrets privilege. The legislation, introduced by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would establish appropriate limits on the use of the state secrets privilege. The Bush administration has misused the privilege to halt several important lawsuits against the government, including an ACLU case involving the extraordinary rendition of an innocent German citizen, Khaled El-Masri. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

ACLU Welcomes Proposed State Secrets Fix, Applauds Senator Kennedy for Introduction of Legislation (01/22/2008)
Washington, DC – The Bush Administration may soon have one less tool in its chest to stymie legitimate cases that might expose government misconduct. Today, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), introduced legislation aimed at narrowing the scope of the state secrets privilege – a huge step towards opening the courthouse doors to people who have suffered real and legitimate harm by the government. Several important suits, including one involving the extraordinary rendition of a German citizen, Khaled El-Masri, have been successfully blocked by this administration’s use of the state secrets privilege.

ACLU’s Top Lobbyist Urges Congress to Protect Freedom of Information Act, Says Government Transparency Vital to American Democracy (02/14/2007)
WASHINGTON - Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office, today appeared before a key House panel to discuss the Freedom of Information Act. Since the enactment of FOIA in 1966, the ACLU has used that crucial law to shed light on the government’s actions and abuses.

ACLU Says National Security Whistleblower Protections Lacking, Calls For Corrections to Critical Shortcomings in Current Law (02/14/2006)
WASHINGTON - Citing growing concerns over court decisions that have weakened laws designed to protect whistleblowers, the American Civil Liberties Union today called on Congress to enact stronger protections for whistleblowers, especially those in the national security arena. Legislation that would take steps to correct some shortcomings in whistleblower law - but without critical protections for national security whistleblowers - was the subject of a hearing held by a panel of the House Government Reform Committee.

ACLU Presses for Full Disclosure on Government's New Snoop Powers (01/17/2003)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today said it was disappointed but not surprised by the government's meager response to a request for information about the FBI's use of new powers to snoop on innocent citizens and that it may soon return to court to obtain documents the government is withholding.

ACLU Files Brief on Behalf of American-Born Taliban Indefinitely Incarcerated without Counsel or Access to Courts (10/25/2002)
RICHMOND, VA -- The national American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan last November and who has been held incommunicado in a military brig in Norfolk for the last six months. Labeled an "enemy combatant" by the Department of Justice, he is being indefinitely jailed in isolation and without any access to counsel.