Patriot Act: Democratic Lawmakers Defy Obama
WASHINGTON — Defying the Obama administration, the House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to remove from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracki...
WASHINGTON — Defying the Obama administration, the House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to remove from the USA Patriot Act a tool for tracki...
Rep. John Conyers | Posted 11.03.2009 | Politics
Good intentions are not enough to preserve our liberty, and the current PATRIOT Act simply grants too much unchecked authority to our government.
Sen. Ron Wyden | Posted 10.28.2009 | Politics
Striking a balance between protecting Americans' security and protecting American rights and freedoms is not always easy, but members of Congress have an obligation to try -- as well as a new opportunity.
Washington Post | Spencer S. Hsu | Posted 10.27.2009 | Politics
Privacy advocates have asked lawmakers to investigate the Department of Homeland Security office in charge of protecting Americans' privacy, saying it...
James Zogby | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics
Civil libertarians of the right and left urged the Senate not to reauthorize the three provisions of the Patriot Act without providing new restraints on law enforcement and adequate protections.
Judy Platt | Posted 10.19.2009 | Books
Readers need to make it clear to their members of Congress and Senators that the privacy of what they read is non-negotiable and that they're entitled to that privacy whether the books they read are borrowed or bought.
David Swanson | Posted 10.15.2009 | Politics
Some of the powers that Bush and Cheney stole from Congress, the courts, and the states are being abused less severely under Obama; others, more so; but far more crucially, all are being maintained.
AP | LARRY MARGASAK | Posted 10.15.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — New cracks are opening in the relationship between President Barack Obama and his liberal allies in Congress over his desire to con...
Leslie Harris | Posted 10.10.2009 | Politics
Disturbingly, Obama Administration officials played a significant behind the scene role in opposing stronger civil liberties protections, directly contradicting Obama's positions as a Senator.
AP | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — A divided Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a revised version of the nation's major counterterrorism law, after intel...
Michael Macleod-Ball | Posted 10.07.2009 | Politics
Tomorrow the debate continues over the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, which includes minor tweaks to the Patriot Act but does not go nearly far enough to protect the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans.
HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 10.07.2009 | Media
The Cato Institute's Julian Sanchez has been following the debate on PATRIOT Act renewal, and has publicly despaired about the quality of coverage dev...
Ted Johnson, Maegan Carberry, Teresa Valdez Klein | Posted 10.02.2009 | Politics
Jon Pincus joins us to talk essential, nuts-and-bolts issues: Will Congress reauthorize certain parts of the Patriot Act? We also talk Roman Polanski's arrest and the immediate "rape apology" by half of Hollywood.
HuffingtonPost.com | Jeff Muskus | Posted 09.23.2009 | Politics
When President Obama was Senator Obama, he had deep reservations about the expansion of executive authority. Now that he wields that authority, he's h...
HuffingtonPost.com | Ryan Grim | Posted 09.23.2009 | Politics
In the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowled...
L.A. Times | David G. Savage | Posted 09.23.2009 | Politics
Reporting from Washington - The Patriot Act -- a favorite tool in the George W. Bush administration's fight against terrorism -- may be renamed later...
AP | LARRY MARGASAK | Posted 09.23.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration promised Congress on Tuesday to negotiate stronger privacy protections for Americans under terrorism surve...
Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted 09.16.2009 | Politics
Provisions of the Patriot Act that remain on the books are legally questionable and constitutionally suspect. President Obama has given no hint that he'll change them.
AP | DEVLIN BARRETT | Posted 09.15.2009 | Politics
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, ...
New York Times | CHARLIE SAVAGE | Posted 07.18.2009 | Politics
Judge Sonia Sotomayor expressed skepticism in March 2003 about the expanded government surveillance powers in the USA Patriot Act, citing what she ref...
McClatchy | Marisa Taylor | Posted 06.04.2009 | World
WASHINGTON -- Forced to flee his homeland because he supported America's ideals, Tsegu Bahta thought he'd be embraced by the country he emulated and r...
Denis Campbell | Posted 02.23.2009 | Politics
We are the poorer for Kennedy's decision, and I wonder how many worthy public servants never consider running because of this environment where every minor gaffe is exploited.
Wajahat Ali | Posted 02.05.2009 | Politics
We in the US are currently engaged in a "war on terror," but this does not give a democratic and free country license to be overwhelmed by fear of its own Muslim and Middle Eastern citizens.
Lauri Lyons | Posted 01.10.2009 | World
What is America? Growing up, I have been able to view the country from several perspectives: Black, female, first-generation American, and a former military child.
Craig Newmark | Posted 01.09.2009 | Politics
There's more drama around the attempts by the current administration to protect people who might have spied illegally on everyday American citizens.
AP | LARRY MARGASAK | Posted 11.05.2009 | Politics