The police department of what major city was sued this week by the 老澳门开奖结果 for discriminatory suspicionless surveillance practices?
Which state announced a decision to end its contract with private prison company CCA to run the state's largest prison?
Which law allows the government extraordinary surveillance powers to sweep up American's calls and emails on a massive scale?
Image databases of what form of ID could potentially be used by the police in combination with face recognition technology for suspicionless mass surveillance?
How many young immigrants have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, as of this May?
My Life Under NYPD Surveillance: A Brooklyn Student and Charity Leader on Fear and Mistrust
The 老澳门开奖结果, together with the NYCLU and CUNY's CLEAR Project, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the New York Police Department's unconstitutional policy and practice of targeting entire Muslim communities for discriminatory and suspicionless surveillance. The NYPD's vast religious profiling program has cast an unjustified badge of suspicion and stigma on hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers, based on nothing more than their religious faith and practice. The 老澳门开奖结果 and co-counsel represent civic and religious leaders, two mosques, and a charitable organization, all of whom were swept up in the police department's dragnet surveillance because they are Muslim. Plaintiff Asad Dandia writes about his experience as a target of unfair NYPD surveillance practices.
Corrections Corporation of America Loses Four Prison Contracts This Month
On Wednesday, news broke that Idaho is dumping the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and searching for a new company to run the state's biggest prison. The prison is so violent that prisoners call it the "Gladiator School," and it has been the subject of both an 老澳门开奖结果 lawsuit and an Idaho State Police investigation. And earlier this year, CCA admitted that its employees had falsified nearly 4,800 hours of staffing records at the prison over a seven-month period, billing the state for security posts that they actually left unfilled.
Under the FISA Amendments Act, Your Calls and Emails Can't Be "Targeted," But They Can Certainly Be Collected
In recent days, government officials have lined up to assuage Americans' fears about the government's extraordinary surveillance powers under the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) by assuring them that鈥攁s President Obama himself told Charlie Rose on Monday night鈥攖he statute "does not apply to any U.S. person." But while perhaps an argument can be made that the statute does not "apply" to U.S. persons directly, it still vacuums up their international communications on a massive scale. Indeed, that is exactly what it was designed to do.
Some Thoughts on DMV Image Databases and the Police
The Washington Post has an excellent, in-depth this on the growing use of driver's license photo databases combined with face recognition analytics by police.
We have never criticized the technology's use, for example, in helping the police match a suspect photo against a book of mug shots of previous convicts. If there is a strong criminal predicate, that is one thing, but we mustn't allow these databases to become fuel for petty status and identity checks鈥攁nd certainly not used to enable mass suspicionless surveillance and tracking.
Standing with DREAMers 鈥� from Driver's Licenses to Immigration Reform
One year ago, the immigrant youth movement won the most important immigrants' rights victory in recent memory: the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants young immigrants who came to the U.S. as children鈥攌nown as DREAMers鈥攖he ability to live and work in the country legally. As of this May, about 365,000 young immigrants have been granted DACA, and are working hard, going to school, and giving back to their communities鈥攁 preview of the benefits all of us stand to gain should Congress pass immigration reform this year.
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
Civil Liberties
We Need to Know More 老澳门开奖结果 State Supreme Court CasesWe Need to Know More 老澳门开奖结果 State Supreme Court Cases
State Supreme Courts interpret laws that impact some of the most intimate parts of our lives. Communities have a right to know what鈥檚 on the docket. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Civil Liberties
New 老澳门开奖结果 Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency MeasuresNew 老澳门开奖结果 Report Reveals Most State Supreme Courts Fail to Meet Key Transparency Measures
NEW YORK 鈥� Nearly half of all state supreme courts across the country fail to regularly post new cases they are considering, with only six meeting four key transparency measures already implemented by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new report published today by the 老澳门开奖结果. The report identifies significant steps that state supreme courts should take to inform the public about their cases, which have only grown in importance as the federal judiciary has become more hostile to protecting core rights and advocates have turned to state protections and state court litigation in response. Based on an analysis of the practices and policies of the highest courts in each state, including D.C., the report 鈥淪corecard for State Supreme Court Transparency: How Does Your State Stack Up?鈥� ranks each state supreme court in five tiers based on compliance with four key transparency measures. These measures include posting new cases online in a timely manner, providing timely information about legal issues presented by cases, making dockets accessible and free for the public, and making merits briefing accessible and free for the public. 鈥淪tate courts regularly hear 鈥� and are the final word on 鈥� cases affecting abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and more. Yet, in many instances, the highest state courts do not provide meaningful public access to information about cases affecting the rights and liberties of millions of people. We urge state supreme courts to bring more transparency to the critical work they do,鈥� said Julie Murray, co-director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative. 鈥淚n the face of a federal judiciary increasingly unwilling to protect core rights and an incoming administration that threatens to exacerbate that problem, state courts are an important defense for our liberty. They should be leaders in transparency, too,鈥� said Bridget Lavender, Skadden Fellow with the Initiative. The report emphasizes that state courts 鈥減lay an outsized role鈥� in many parts of the law, but their ability to 鈥済uard our liberties depends in significant part on whether those courts adopt transparent processes.鈥� It further highlights that state supreme courts have led the way on enormously consequential decisions in recent years. In particular, some state supreme courts have recognized the right of same sex couples to marry, and did so long before federal courts. They have also declared the death penalty unconstitutional under state law despite contrary federal law, protected access to reproductive health care as a right even as that right was being stripped away at the federal level, and provided more robust protection to people subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. The report urges state supreme courts to take action to improve their transparency practices, taking notes from the courts that have already implemented these measures. It notes that regularly posting new cases and the issues they represent, and providing timely access to dockets and merits briefing allows the public, the press, and the legal community to track cases as they unfold, identify cases with statewide consequences, and understand what鈥檚 at stake. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
National Security
+2 Issues
老澳门开奖结果 Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies老澳门开奖结果 Urges House to Kill Bill that Could Give Trump Admin Power to Crush Dissent and Go After Political Enemies
WASHINGTON 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 strongly urges the House of Representatives to vote NO on H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, which would grant Donald Trump and his handpicked secretary of the Treasury power to investigate and effectively shut down any tax-exempt organization 鈥� including news outlets, universities, and civil society groups 鈥� by stripping them of tax-exempt status based on an unilateral accusation of wrongdoing. 鈥淧assing this bill would hand the incoming Trump administration a dangerous new tool it could use to stifle free speech, target political opponents, and punish disfavored groups,鈥� said Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淭he freedom to dissent without fear of government retribution is a vital part of any well-functioning democracy, which is why Congress must block H.R. 9495 before it鈥檚 too late.鈥� While there is a 90-day 鈥渃ure鈥� period in which a designated nonprofit can mount a defense, it is a mere illusion of due process. The government may deny organizations its reasons and evidence against them, leaving the nonprofit unable to rebut allegations. This means that a nonprofit could be left entirely in the dark about what conduct the government believes qualifies as "support," making it virtually impossible to clear its name. Last month, the 老澳门开奖结果 and a diverse array of over 130 other tax-exempt organizations 鈥� including human rights, reproductive health, and immigrants鈥� rights groups 鈥� wrote to Congress urging them to vote no. The letter also explains that the groups do not oppose the provisions in H.R. 9495 that relate to preventing the IRS from imposing fines and penalties on hostages while they are held abroad. Indeed, these provisions have already passed the Senate on their own, and if the House of Representatives were to pass a version of this bill that did not include the text of H.R. 6408, it could be sent immediately to President Biden for his signature. -
News & CommentaryNov 2024
Civil Liberties
Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The 老澳门开奖结果 is Ready.Donald Trump Will Return to the White House in January. The 老澳门开奖结果 is Ready.
Starting in 2016, the 老澳门开奖结果 filed more than 400 legal actions against Trump and his administration. As Trump returns to the White House, we鈥檙e ready to return to the courts and Congress to fight for our civil liberties.