What's new
Tell Congress to Stop Domestic Spying
PATRIOT Act reauthorization will come up in Congress this month, and it's our last chance to shift the debate and call for real civil liberties and privacy protections. Sign our letter to add your voice to calls for needed reforms.
Your community can do what the federal government won't
BORDC has developed two model ordinances for consideration by city councils across the country. These ordinances, which will have the force of law where enacted, allow individual municipalities to do what the federal government will not: protect the fundamental rights and liberties of law-abiding Americans to be free of arbitrary monitoring, surveillance, detention, search, or arrest by local law enforcement authorities; and bring to justice senior government officials complicit in torture.
Disbar the torture lawyers: Sign on today
While the Attorney General contemplates a limited investigation scapegoating junior officials who violated "approved" torture techniques, BORDC and allies (including the National Lawyers Guild and Velvet Revolution) are pursuing ethics complaints against former senior officials licensed to practice law. Sign our letters in support of disbarment.
Current Civil Liberties Issues
Read our blog for more on the latest civil liberties issues.
OPR report to exonerate torture lawyers
Recently, Newsweek reported that a forthcoming report by the Office of Professional Responsibility is expected to exonerate Bush administration lawyers who authored memoranda authorizing torture, including John Yoo and Jay Bybee. Read more on our blog.
DOJ report reveals FBI exigent letter abuses
January’s Department of Justice report serves as a reminder of the necessity of an open and accountable federal government. The report details how the FBI circumvented statutory requirements to obtain the phone records for over 2,000 people, including, journalists for The New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Using “exigent letters,” the FBI would request records by citing emergency circumstances, without establishing probable cause or a link to a current investigation. Read more on our blog.
Want to take action on these civil liberties issues? Find your legislators' contact information.
In the News:
2/7, Andrew Sullivan, Times (UK), The three dead Guantanamo men crying for justice
2/7, Senator Russ Feingold and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, Wall Street Journal, The Intel Committees Need the Power of the Purse
2/6, Charlotte Dennett, AlterNet, Why We Can't Afford to Let Obama Give Bush's War Criminals a Free Pass
2/6, Jeff Kaye, The Seminal, Ghost Prisoners? Indefinite Detention? "Hitherto Acceptable Norms of Human Conduct Do Not Apply"
2/5, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, The lynch-mob mentality
2/5, Stephen Rohde, TruthOut, John Yoo Renews Claim That President's Authority to Torture Depends on What Is "Necessary"
