American Civil Liberties Union

There has never been a more urgent need to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today, as illegal government spying, provisions of the Patriot Act and government-sponsored torture programs transcend the bounds of law and our most treasured values in the name of national security.


Military Commissions Act

Freedom Files - Season 2
Ideological Exclusion

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Safe and Free : Legislative Documents

ACLU Fact Sheet: Amendments to Senate FISA Bill Regarding Immunity for Telecommunications Companies that Facilitated Warrantless Wiretapping (02/04/2008)

ACLU Letter to the Senate Urging No Votes On Any Bill That Would Authorize Warrantless Wiretapping or Grant Immunity to Telecoms (02/04/2008)

Coalition Letter to Senator Reid Regarding the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 and Telecom Immunity (01/22/2008)

Consumer Rights and Government Accountability Group Letter to the Senate Regarding the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 and Telecom Immunity (01/22/2008)

ACLU Letter to Congress Calling for Independent Prosecutor (01/10/2008)

ACLU Letter to Attorney General Mukasey Urging the Appointment of Outside Independent Prosecutor (01/07/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, a non-partisan organization with over half a million members and 53 affiliates throughout the nation, we are writing in regard to your decision to launch a criminal investigation into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes to be headed by Deputy U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut. While we acknowledge the significance of your decision to both launch the investigation and accept the recusal of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, we urge you to go further. To truly do justice and help restore America’s confidence in the impartiality of the Department of Justice, we urge you to appoint an outside independent prosecutor and to broaden the scope of the inquiry beyond the narrow issue of evidence destruction. It is time for a prosecutor to examine the complete picture of illegal activities by the government in its intelligence and homeland security operations since 9/11, which includes the use of illegal interrogation techniques such as “waterboarding” and others. Given its role in the development of illegal policies relating to torture and abuse, the Department of Justice is utterly conflicted and any decision it renders on prosecutions will necessarily be suspect. Moreover, any decision relating to the destruction of videotapes will necessarily beg the question of the underlying illegal activities.

ACLU Letter to the Senate Urging A "No" Vote on Cloture and "Yes" to Stripping Immunity During the Debate On The FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (12/17/2007)

Coalition Letter to the Senate Urging Opposition to the Senate Intelligence Committe's Version of the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (12/13/2007)

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