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ACLU Cheers House and Senate Intel Bill Conferees for Including Provision Prohibiting Torture and Abuse (12/06/2007)
Washington, DC – The ACLU was encouraged today that House and Senate conferees included a provision to the 2008 intelligence authorization bill (HR 2082) which would apply the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogations government-wide. The provision, added to the conference report by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would require all government agencies, including the CIA, to abide by the Army Field Manual – which prohibits torture and abuse tactics against persons held in U.S. custody.

ACLU Calls for Release of Three Secret Torture Memos (12/05/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union is in court today calling for the release of three documents issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that are believed to have authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh interrogation methods. The government failed to identify or provide the memos, which were issued in May of 2005, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the ACLU requesting information on U.S. treatment and interrogation of detainees.

ACLU Says Specter Substitution Misses the Mark in FISA Debate (12/05/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to thoroughly scrutinize a new bill offered by ranking member Senator Specter (R-PA). Senator Specter’s bill, the FISA Intelligence Surveillance Substitution Act of 2007, would remove the telecommunications companies and insert the federal government as the defendant in cases currently pending over domestic spying. The bill will be marked up by the full Judiciary Committee this Thursday.

ACLU to Monitor Guantánamo Military Hearing Wednesday (12/04/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union will monitor the military commission hearing of Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan at Guantánamo Bay on Wednesday. Hamdan, alleged to have served as a personal driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, will appear before a U.S. military judge who will determine whether the commission has the authority to hear Hamdan’s case. Hamdan is only the third Guantánamo detainee to face charges before the commissions, which Congress reinstated in 2006 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down, in Hamdan’s own case, the system established by the Bush administration.

ACLU Urges Vote On Senate Judiciary FISA Bill and Rejection of Telecom Immunity (12/04/2007)
Statement from Caroline Fredrickson

FBI Improperly Using Patriot Act Surveillance Powers, ACLU Charges (11/29/2007)
NEW YORK – As a result of newly released Department of Defense (DoD) documents revealing the potential abuse of the government’s surveillance powers, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to force the FBI to turn over documents concerning its use of National Security Letters (NSLs) that demand private data about individuals within the United States without court approval. In today’s request, the ACLU seeks records pertaining to the FBI’s issuing of NSLs at the behest of other agencies that are not authorized to access this sensitive information on their own. In addition, the ACLU is requesting all documents indicating how the FBI has interpreted and used its power to silence NSL recipients since the Patriot Act’s gag provision was amended in 2006.

ACLU Thanks Mitt Romney for Acknowledging Its Good Work (11/29/2007)
NEW YORK – In last night’s debate, presidential candidate Mitt Romney pointedly advocated the captivity of suspected terrorists at the infamous Guantánamo Bay detention center. While disparaging the concept of providing counsel to accused suspects in U.S. custody – a core principle of our constitutional democracy - Romney suggested, in jest, that he “presume[d]” the American Civil Liberties Union represented Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

ACLU Statement on the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (11/28/2007)
Washington, D.C. – The ACLU continues to have serious concerns regarding the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1955). Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU said, "Law enforcement should focus on action, not thought. We need to worry about the people who are committing crimes rather than those who harbor beliefs that the government may consider to be extreme."

ACLU Responds to Federal Court Ruling in "State Secrets" Lawsuit About Warrantless Wiretapping (11/16/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today that a charity that sued President Bush for engaging in unconstitutional surveillance can pursue its case in court. The Bush administration had asked the appellate court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the very subject matter of the litigation – the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program – was a state secret. The Ninth Circuit rejected this argument, noting that the government had publicly acknowledged the surveillance program and that senior officials had discussed the program in press conferences and statements. The court did, however, find that an inadvertently disclosed document indicating that the charity had been the target of surveillance was properly protected by the state secrets privilege, and returned the case back to the district court to determine whether the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act preempts the state secrets privilege in this context.

ACLU Cheers No Telecom Immunity Vote from Judiciary Committee, Lauds Chairman Leahy, Sen. Feingold and Rep. Holt’s Actions (11/15/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union is delighted that the Senate Judiciary Committee chose not to address telecom immunity in its version of a bill updating Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Although the rest of the bill does not pass constitutional muster, the ACLU applauds the Committee for not letting the bells off the hook.

House of Representatives Vote to End CIA’s Secret Torture Program (11/15/2007)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union was pleased the House of Representatives passed language applying the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogations government-wide. The language was included in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill that funds the Department of Defense. The Army Field Manual prohibits torture and abuse, including waterboarding, and also authorizes an array of specific interrogation tactics.

ACLU Rebukes U.S. Government for Denying South African Scholar's Visa (11/14/2007)
BOSTON -- In response to the unjustified denial of a visa to renowned South African scholar Adam Habib, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Massachusetts today renewed their legal challenge against the Departments of State and Homeland Security. The State Department refused Habib a visa after months of inaction, claiming that he is barred because he has "engaged in terrorist activities," but the government failed to explain the basis for its accusation, let alone provide any evidence to prove it. The ACLU, in today's legal complaint, is now demanding that the government substantiate its ban on Habib or grant him a visa.

ACLU Urges Members of the Judiciary Committee Not to Let the Bells Off-The-Hook (11/14/2007)
Washington, DC -- The American Civil Liberties Union urges Senate Judiciary Committee members to oppose substitution language floated by some Members of the Committee that would grant telecommunications companies immunity for their illegal activities over the past six years. The substitution amendment would instead make the government responsible for illegal activity committed by the companies involved in the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, but could effectively extinguish the lawsuits entirely due to legal barriers the government could raise if it were substituted as the sole defendant.

Patriot Act Victim Speaks Out on Spy Bill (11/14/2007)
Washington, DC – Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney falsely linked to terrorism, sent a statement to Congress this month urging the body against legislation that would overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Mayfield was subject to unconstitutional surveillance under the Patriot Act and subsequently arrested and held without charge. Mayfield wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee members Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Russell Feingold (D-WI) asking that they consider the effect that the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 would have on innocent Americans.

ACLU Says Spy Law Still Needs Work (11/09/2007)
Washington, DC – After proposals to alter portions of a surveillance bill were released by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union once again urged meaningful constitutional protections be added to the legislation. The FISA Amendments Act seeks to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and was written in response to the so-called Protect America Act that was rushed through Congress in August. The bill as drafted by the Senate Intelligence Committee includes immunity for the telecommunications companies for their role in the administration’s domestic spying program. The Judiciary Committee is expecting to take up that provision next week.

ACLU Outlines Ways Waterboarding has Already Been Declared Illegal by the Federal Government (11/08/2007)
Washington, DC – As the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hears testimony today regarding torture and interrogation of detainees, the American Civil Liberties Union presents indisputable evidence that waterboarding has been repeatedly classified as torture and is banned by U.S. law. Waterboarding has been the subject of intense controversy recently as attorney general candidate Michael Mukasey has refused to classify it as torture.

ACLU to Monitor Guantánamo Military Commission Proceeding Thursday (11/07/2007)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union will be at Guantánamo Bay Thursday to monitor the military commission hearing of Canadian national Omar Ahmed Khadr. The proceeding follows months of disarray and uncertainty about the U.S. government’s system of prosecuting prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay without charges or trial. The ACLU is one of four organizations that have been granted status as human rights observers at the military commission proceedings and has observed the tribunals since they began in 2004.

Government Defies Recommendations of U.N. Committee on Torture (11/07/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today blasted the government's one year follow-up report to the U.N. Committee Against Torture. The report was recently submitted to the committee in Geneva and was made public Tuesday. Following a 2006 committee review that found widespread evidence of U.S sponsored policies involving torture and abuse, the committee gave the U.S. one year to report on its progress in ending these practices. But the new report proves the U.S. is still not in compliance with the treaty, said the ACLU.

ACLU Rebuts FBI Director’s Remarks About National Security Letter Lawsuit (11/07/2007)
NEW YORK – A federal court ruling striking down the national security letter (NSL) provision of the Patriot Act was anything but “misguided,” contrary to recent comments made by FBI Director Robert Mueller, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. NSLs allow the government to obtain private personal and financial records without prior court approval and permit the FBI to impose “gag” orders on those served with the letters.

ACLU to Testify Thursday Before House Subcommittee on Torture and Interrogation Practices (11/07/2007)
Washington, DC – Amrit Singh at the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project will testify tomorrow as part of a panel before the House Judiciary Subcommittee looking into "enhanced" interrogation methods used on detainees in U.S. custody.