Posts in "ACLU"

By Elliot Engstrom at 3:25PM

Feb 15, 2010

ACLU Tackling Wrongful Police Arrests

The American Civil Liberties Union is taking on the government of Colorado on the issue of mistaken arrests. CNN reports:

Three police cars pulled into Christina FourHorn's front yard one afternoon just before she was supposed to pick up her daughter at school. The officers had a warrant for her arrest.
"What do you mean robbery?" FourHorn remembers asking the officers. Her only brushes with the law had been a few speeding tickets.
...Later, it became clear that FourHorn was right, that Denver police had arrested the wrong woman. Police were searching for Christin Fourhorn, who lived in Oklahoma.
...Since the FourHorn case, the ACLU found at least 237 cases in Colorado in which police may have arrested the wrong person.

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By Bonnie Kristian at 7:34AM

Nov 12, 2009

Steve Bierfeldt and the TSA

You may recall reports on this website about Campaign for Liberty's Steve Bierfeldt and his brush with the TSA. The ACLU filed a case on his behalf after he was detained in an airport simply for carrying cash on behalf of C4L. Bierfeldt received some media attention, including making it on CNN, but since then little seems to have come out about the development of his case.

Now Bierfeldt has an article in the Huffington Post: "How My Lawsuit Against the TSA Made Airports Safe For the Constitution Again." He explains:

Eight days before the government's response was due in our case, TSA issued a new policy directive making clear that its safety screening procedures would be strictly limited to passenger searches for the purpose of safeguarding flight safety. In combination with other directives issued in the wake of our lawsuit, TSA's policy now makes clear that passengers should not experience the kind of suspicionless detention and questioning I had been subjected to. In light of this victory, yesterday the ACLU informed the court of our intention to voluntarily dismiss the suit.

The TSA screeners won't be gone, but perhaps now they'll be a little more under control. Bierfeldt himself concludes, "passengers are no longer forced to check their constitutional rights at the airport counter, and that is a victory for all."

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By Elliot Engstrom at 6:38AM

Jul 26, 2009

The NSA Is Still Listening to You

...says a recent article from salon.com. Far from scaling back the NSA's domestic wiretapping programs, these very programs which Democrats railed at under the Bush administration will now be expanded under Obama:

This summer, on a remote stretch of desert in central Utah, the National Security Agency will begin work on a massive, 1 million-square-foot data warehouse. Costing more than $1.5 billion, the highly secret facility is designed to house upward of trillions of intercepted phone calls, e-mail messages, Internet searches and other communications intercepted by the agency as part of its expansive eavesdropping operations. The NSA is also completing work on another data warehouse, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.

The rest of the article, which chronicoles author James Bamford's personal experience in the conflict between the ACLU and the NSA, can be read here.

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By Preston Mui at 3:49PM

Jun 22, 2009

Creepy National ID Video

The ACLU has a creepy video warning against a national ID here.

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By Tom Baurain at 11:50PM

Jun 18, 2009

Freedom Watch 6/17/09

Judge Andrew Napolitano's show "Freedom Watch" had it's 19th episode yesterday! As usual, the guest lineup was great. Guests included Congressman Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, Dr. Yaron Brook, Lew Rockwell, Thomas Woods, Mike German, and John Poppas. Do you enjoy Freedom Watch? Email yourcomments@foxnews.com to get the show on TV!
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By Jeffrey Hubbard at 10:51PM

Jun 18, 2009

Local Celebrity, Steve Bierfeldt, Goes National

The ACLU has filed a suit on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt due to a recent civil liberty violation at the St. Louis airport. It is rare that I find myself celebrating the efforts of the ACLU, but in this case, they are doing great work. Read more below:

On March 29, 2009, Steven Bierfeldt was detained in a small room at Lambert-St.

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By Bonnie Kristian at 6:17PM

May 14, 2009

Obama May Detain Terror Suspects Indefinitely

Apparently the only change in the new administration's policies for detaining terror suspects is location:

The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Also fun is how Mr. Obama is apparently completely above the rule of law: