Habeas Restoration Bill on the Move

WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Obernolte and Congresswoman Trahan released a draft regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence, which they may soon introduce in the House of Representatives. This draft bill – if enacted into law – would largely prohibit states from regulating AI developers. It would block states from enforcing existing state protections and from enacting new protections This could include anything from privacy regulations to antidiscrimination requirements to AI safety laws. Congress has twice overwhelmingly rejected legislative proposals to block states from regulating AI, also known as “preemption.” This includes a 99-1 Senate vote last year against an amendment that would have created a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation. Seventeen Republican governors joined the bipartisan opposition to that failed amendment. In response, Jina John, senior policy counsel for AI, privacy and technology at the ACLU released the following statement: "This draft bill fails to learn from Congress’s previous attempts to block state AI regulations. States must be able to protect their own residents from harm, hold tech companies accountable, and ensure that AI is safe and trustworthy. "Governors, attorneys general, and lawmakers from both parties have opposed the efforts to push states aside for good reason. AI touches all aspects of people’s lives in this country, including employment, healthcare, lending, education, and so much more. So far, it has been governors and state legislatures—and largely not Congress or the president—who have been trying to protect the American people from harms that AI may cause. The federal government must not grant tech giants a blank check to deploy these technologies without the oversight of states."

NEWARK — Yesterday, federal agents reportedly fired pepper balls and tear gas at people gathered outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, including U.S. Senator Andy Kim. This comes after days in which hundreds of individuals detained at Delaney Hall have engaged in a hunger strike decrying inhumane conditions and treatment. New Jersey elected officials, including Rep. Rob Menendez, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Rep. Analilia Mejia, Rep. Nellie Pou, Rep. Frank Pallone, Senator Andy Kim, state legislators, and Governor Mikie Sherrill, have continued to call for the closure of Delaney Hall, a facility that has been plagued by abusive conditions since it opened. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly obstructed officials’ access to the facility. The following is a statement from ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha: “People detained at Delaney Hall are facing brutal and inhumane conditions. Their families and community members who are protesting their treatment, and the elected officials who are asking to inspect the facility, should not face pepper spray and rubber bullets for doing so. Our federal representatives – who have the congressional authority to conduct oversight visits of the facility – have instead taken pepper spray to their eyes and experienced abuse at the hands of federal agents.” “The calls for closure from officials across all levels of government reflect the will of a state that believes in due process, human dignity, and the rule of law. We urge the federal government to heed those calls, end the obstruction of congressional oversight, and immediately address the conditions that have driven detained people to risk their health and safety to be heard. No one should have to starve themselves to be treated with basic humanity. “The Trump administration continues to target people decrying its horrific mass detention and deportation agenda, and we need leaders at every level of government to take action to hold ICE accountable and end immigration detention. We also urge state leaders to ensure universal representation for people detained in New Jersey by increasing funding for the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative to $20 million to meet the increased demand for legal services.” Haddy Gassama, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following reaction: “The hunger strike at Delaney Hall is not an isolated action. It is a response to longstanding, systematic abuse in immigration detention, and it joins many other similar actions across the country. Against this brutal backdrop, the rates of death in detention have been steadily rising, at an average of one death in ICE custody every six days. “It just so happens Congress is debating whether to give the Department of Homeland Security another $70 billion to continue ramping up their mass deportations, all while federal agents shoot rubber bullets and pepper spray at elected officials, families of detainees, and community members. Their sickening display in Newark this Memorial Day weekend is but the latest reminder why our representatives and Senators must hold firm and refuse to be complicit in fueling ICE’s reckless abuses in our communities."

This case concerns the constitutionality of a highly intrusive law enforcement practice: the use of geofence warrants. Geofence warrants compel tech companies like Google to provide to law enforcement location data from every cell phone likely to have been within a certain area during a given time window. Then, law enforcement officers decide for themselves which users to focus on, and demand additional location information—and eventually identifying information—for the users they select. Geofence warrants raise grave constitutional concerns, including that (1) they authorize dragnet searches that sweep up the private data of many people without probable cause to believe that all or any of them were involved in any crime, and (2) they allow law enforcement officers to decide which users to focus on for additional data collection without judicial oversight. This case therefore has significant implications for Texans’ ability to secure their digital privacy and property against unjustified government intrusion.

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Justice indicted FBI Director James Comey for the second time in the last year. This indictment is the latest in a series of Trump administration actions targeting political opponents of the president, including an unsuccessful attempt to prosecute James Comey in November. Mike Zamore, the national director of policy and government affairs at the ACLU, issued the following statement in response: “In a democracy, being critical of a leader does not get you thrown in jail. James Comey’s latest indictment is yet another example of President Trump abusing his power to target his perceived political opponents. “The Trump administration has made it clear time and again: Appease the president or you will face the wrath of the federal government. Comey’s prosecution should severely trouble every American who values their freedom, no matter their political persuasion. “We’re witnessing the severe abuse and pressure-testing of our justice system. However, we remain confident that the American people and our institutions will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights, and this ham-handed attempt to intimidate and silence President Trump’s critics will fail."