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New Report Confirms Unprecedented Expansion Of Government Spying (05/01/2008)
NEW YORK – A newly released Justice Department report shows an unprecedented expansion of the government's use of secret warrants for domestic spying. According to the report, the number of secret warrants approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) more than doubled in the past seven years. The court approved 2,370 requests last year, compared to 1,012 in 2000.

ACLU Commends Senator Feingold for Hearing on Secret Law (04/30/2008)
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.

Newly Unredacted Report Confirms Psychologists Supported Illegal Interrogations In Iraq and Afghanistan (04/30/2008)
NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union announced today the release of newly unredacted documents from the Defense Department's internal investigations into charges of detainee abuse. Uncensored documents from the Church Report, obtained as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, include new details exposing the role of psychologists in military interrogations. The documents also uncover new information about the failure of military medical personnel to report abuses at Abu Ghraib, the military's use of unlawful interrogation methods subsequent to a directive that was ostensibly meant to end such practices, and detainee deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

ACLU Resumes Vigilant Watch As Unconstitutional Guantánamo Hearings Continue This Week (04/28/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union will be at Guantánamo Bay this week observing the military commission hearings of Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The ACLU has been present as an independent observer at each and every commission hearing and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair, impartial or in accordance with constitutional or universal human rights principles.

ACLU Urges Federal Appeals Court To Lift Ban On Renowned Scholar (04/28/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a brief in a federal court today in an appeal challenging the government's refusal to grant a visa to renowned Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan. The ACLU maintains that the government's stated reason for barring the scholar is a pretext and that Ramadan, a leading European academic whose work addresses Muslim identity and the role of Islam in democratic societies, remains banned from the country because of his political viewpoints.

ACLU And HRF Ask Circuit Court To Reconsider Rumsfeld Torture Case (04/25/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First (HRF) today filed an unusual motion in federal court in an effort to overturn the dismissal of a lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The March 2005 lawsuit was filed on behalf of nine Iraqi and Afghan former civilian detainees who were tortured while in U.S. military custody and eventually released without being charged with a crime. The lawsuit charged that then-Secretary Rumsfeld was legally responsible for policies and practices leading to the torture and abuse of detainees.

ACLU Urges House to Remain Firm as FISA Stalemate Continues (04/24/2008)
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.

ACLU Urges Senate Committee to Pass Strong State Secrets Bill (04/24/2008)
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.

FBI Practices Need Strict Oversight, ACLU Says (04/23/2008)
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 (04/23/2008)
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.

ACLU Demands Immediate Release Of Inspector General Report On FBI's Role In Illegal Interrogations (04/22/2008)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today with the Departments of Justice and Defense for the release of a report on a long-running investigation of the FBI's role in the unlawful interrogations of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) launched the investigation after internal government documents - uncovered by an ACLU lawsuit - revealed that FBI agents stationed at Guantánamo Bay expressed concern after witnessing military interrogators' use of brutal interrogation techniques.

Court To Hear Arguments Today In Case Testing Material Support Statute (04/18/2008)
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 (04/17/2008)
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.