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ACLU Commends House Judiciary Subcommittee for Continued Investigation into Whether High-Level Officials Authorized Torture
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union commends Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties for their continued efforts to uncover the full extent of this administration’s approval of torture in the interrogation of detainees. Tomorrow’s hearing is the last in a series of three held by the subcommittee on torture, and the first time both David Addington, chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, and John Yoo, formerly of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), are scheduled to testify before Congress on their roles in approving the use of torture. An important focus of the series of hearings has been whether high-level government officials violated federal criminal laws against torture and abuse.

ACLU Challenges Government's Ban On Renowned South African Scholar In Federal Court Today
BOSTON – Today in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Massachusetts challenged the government's refusal to grant a visa to respected South African scholar Adam Habib. Last fall, 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 inflammatory accusation, let alone provide a single piece of evidence to prove it.

ACLU Applauds Committee Passage of National Security Letter Reform
Washington, DC – Today, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties approved legislation that would greatly reduce the scope of the National Security Letter (NSL) statute. NSLs are secret government requests for information that are used to collect private records without judicial oversight. The FBI’s gross misuse and abuse of the NSL statute has led to consecutive and embarrassing reports issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General. In March, a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU also uncovered abuses of the NSL statute by the Department of Defense.

House Approves Unconstitutional Surveillance Legislation
Washington, DC – Following a vote in the House of Representatives sanctioning warrantless wiretapping and handing immunity to telecommunications companies for their role in domestic spying, the American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage at representatives who voted for the unconstitutional legislation. The bill, H.R. 6304, or The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed the chamber by a vote of 293-129, and is expected to be voted on in the Senate next week.

ACLU Condemns FISA Deal, Declares Surveillance Bill Unconstitutional
Washington, DC – With news that a surveillance bill may be voted on in the House of Representatives as early as tomorrow, the American Civil Liberties Union sternly warned members against voting for the legislation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has worked closely with the White House and has led the effort to gut the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and give the telephone companies what amounts to a pardon for breaking the law.

ACLU Says No Deal on an Unconstitutional FISA Compromise
Washington, DC – As news continues to trickle down from Capitol Hill regarding a deal on surveillance legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union once again voiced its fervent opposition to any attempt to undercut the Fourth Amendment or allow the telecommunications companies to gain blanket immunity for illegal spying. Before the Memorial Day recess the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) floated what he claims is a compromise on surveillance legislation that will allow for sham court proceedings, virtually guaranteeing immunity to telecommunications companies. The ACLU strongly opposes this unconstitutional proposal.

ACLU Rejects FISA “Compromise”
Washington, DC – Responding to a proposal from Senate Intelligence Ranking Member, Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO), the American Civil Liberties Union today criticized yet another attempt to gut the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and grant immunity to telecommunications companies. The proposal, which has the backing of the Bush administration, would allow for cases against the telecommunications companies to be held in a secret court and redundantly would restate the provision already in FISA making it the exclusive means to wiretap within the United States – after weakening FISA to allow the president’s warrantless wiretapping program to proceed virtually unfettered.

ACLU Praises Adoption of Amendment Requiring Video Recording of Interrogations
WASHINGTON, DC - The American Civil Liberties Union praises last night's House of Representatives floor vote that adopted, by a margin of 218-192 (including 15 Republicans) the Holt/Tauscher/Grijalva/Schakowsky Amendment to the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment requires the recording and retention of videos of strategic interrogations of persons under the custody or control of the Defense Department. The amendment would bring these interrogations into line with recommended best practices for military and law enforcement interrogations - increasing accountability for compliance with the McCain Anti-Torture Amendment and other anti-torture laws.

ACLU Tells Congress to Strengthen Whistleblower Protections
Washington, DC – Testifying at a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged members to extend whistleblower protections to intelligence and law enforcement employees. ACLU National Security Policy Counsel and FBI whistleblower, Mike German, was joined on the panel by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Bassem Youssef, another whistleblower who currently works in the FBI’s counter-terrorism division. Both German and Youssef complained to superiors at the FBI about the handling of counter-terrorism investigations. The ACLU is calling on Congress to offer better protection for government employees who uncover wrongdoing or national security breaches.

Scott Calls for Reinstatement of Critical Safeguards on FBI Spying
Washington, DC -- The ACLU commends Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) for introducing H. Res. 1211, a resolution calling on Congress to reinstate the pre-Ashcroft guidelines, which provide stronger protections from unwarranted, domestic FBI spying for ordinary Americans. On May 30, 2002 Attorney General John Ashcroft adopted his own guidelines in order to loosen the internal policies that guide federal investigations. These guidelines have enabled have enabled the Department of Justice and the FBI to track Americans’ dissent against the Bush administration and the government without showing cause or evidence of any criminal activity.

ACLU Skeptical of Senate Report on "Homegrown" Terrorism
Washington, DC – After Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a report on Islamic homegrown terrorism today, the American Civil Liberties Union strongly urged Congress to use caution when moving forward on related legislation, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (S. 1959). The report, "Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat," is based on findings from hearings held by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The ACLU and nearly twenty other groups sent a memo to the committee outlining concerns with the report, most notably the free speech implications of labeling the internet as a "weapon" and the unfair singling out of one religious group as possible "extremists."

ACLU Lauds House Judiciary Committee on Torture Investigation
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union lauds the House Judiciary Committee and especially its chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and subcommittee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) for compelling former members of the Bush administration to appear before the committee as part of an investigation of the authorization of illegal torture of prisoners in US custody by the highest public officials in the executive branch.

ACLU Applauds House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Administration Authorization of Torture
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union was pleased to see the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hold today’s hearing to examine the executive branch’s role in authorizing harsh interrogation methods. The ACLU calls on Congress to conduct a systematic, top-to-bottom investigation to explore whether crimes have been committed and how high up the authorization originated.

ACLU Commends Senator Feingold for Hearing on Secret Law
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded a Senate subcommittee for holding a hearing on the Bush administration’s use of secrecy to institute government policy. During the hearing, entitled “Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government,” the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and its chairman, Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), heard testimony from legal experts and open government advocates. The hearing focused on the administration’s broad interpretation of the law as it relates to government secrecy and counterterrorism policies – including a legal opinion written by former Justice Department Official John Yoo on the use of torture in interrogations. That memo was made public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by the ACLU.

ACLU Urges Senate Committee to Pass Strong State Secrets Bill
Washington, DC – As the Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to mark up key legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the body to pass a bill that would allow Americans to hold their government accountable. The bill, introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), would limit the scope of the state secrets privilege. The Bush administration, which has threatened to veto Senator Kennedy’s bill, has used the privilege to halt several important lawsuits against the government, including an ACLU case involving the extraordinary rendition of an innocent German citizen, Khaled El-Masri.

ACLU Urges House to Remain Firm as FISA Stalemate Continues
Washington, DC – In response to reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives have filed a discharge petition in order to force a vote on a Senate-passed update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the American Civil Liberties Union released the following statement.

FBI Practices Need Strict Oversight, ACLU Says
Washington, DC – As FBI Director Robert Mueller appeared before Congress today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the House Judiciary Committee to ask him the “hard questions.”

ACLU Applauds Senate Scrutiny of Overbroad NSL Authority
Washington, DC – As an overbroad and often-abused power is examined today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union urged members of the committee to thoroughly question its witnesses before marking up legislation aimed at fixing the problem. The "National Security Letter Reform Act" introduced by committee member Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), would narrow the scope of National Security Letters (NSLs) and curb abuse by federal law enforcement. NSLs are used to obtain access to personal customer records from Internet Service Providers, financial institutions and credit reporting agencies. Recipients of the NSLs are generally forbidden, or "gagged," from disclosing that they have received the letters.

Court To Hear Arguments Today In Case Testing Material Support Statute
NEW YORK - A federal court will hear arguments today in a case that tests a material support statute that the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union call unconstitutional. Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, an American citizen, faces up to 15 years in prison for her alleged support of a group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. In November 2007, the ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing that the law criminalizing material support to alleged terrorist organizations is unconstitutional because it punishes political association with blacklisted organizations without requiring the government to show a person intends to engage in or support any criminal activity.

ACLU Says Fusion Centers Remain Problematic
Washington, DC – As a Senate subcommittee met today to get a “progress report” on fusion centers, the American Civil Liberties Union once again voiced its concerns with the intelligence-gathering institutions. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration heard testimony from government and intelligence officials on a recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding the centers. Though several recent reports have confirmed fusion centers’ growing role in law enforcement and revealed their expanding ties to private industry, including relationships with massive data-brokering companies, no third parties were set to testify. The ACLU released a report last year outlining serious concerns with fusion centers.