The United States has a strictly limited federal government, with a robust Bill of Rights, yet our freedom of speech and civil liberties remain in question as government seeks new authority over citizens. The federal government today limits our political speech, subjects us to more wiretapping than ever before, criminalizes more activities every year, regulates and sometimes interferes with the content of broadcasting, and assumes unprecedented police and prosecutorial powers. The best way to protect civil liberties is to rein in the scope and power of the federal government and begin to return the federal government to its constitutional limits.
Free Speech and Civil Liberties
Featured Content
Dick Durbin, Counterterrorism, and Patriot Act 2.0
New proposed authorities to combat domestic terrorism after the attack on the Capitol again pose challenges for basic constraints on government like probable cause and particularized suspicion. Patrick Eddington comments.
Public Schools Can’t Control Students’ Private Speech
The Supreme Court should make clear that public schools can’t monitor and censor student speech 24/7.
“Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act” Gains Steam
Creating new, competing organizational “domestic terrorism” stovepipes will increase, not reduce, the likelihood of another domestic terrorism intelligence failure.
The NLRB Needs to Learn How to Take a Joke
Domenech’s tweet was public and performative, just like a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Does the 4th Amendment Prohibit Warrantless Drone Surveillance?
Does the Fourth Amendment, which protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” prohibit warrantless drone surveillance? The Supreme Court has yet to answer that question, but an appeals court in Michigan recently considered the question, and in an opinion written by Judge Kathleen Jansen answered “Yes.”