For nearly two decades, Oregon’s Department of Justice has operated its “Oregon TITAN Fusion Center” (OTFC) as a statewide domestic-intelligence hub—aggregating, analyzing, and sharing vast quantities of data about citizens without any clear statutory authorization or legislative safeguards. OTFC’s activities reach far beyond traditional law enforcement, sweeping in political activists, environmental groups, and ordinary citizens under an “all crimes/​all hazards” mission.

Appellants sued ODOJ in Circuit Court to enjoin OTFC’s operations. The court granted ODOJ judgment on the pleadings. Although Judge Partridge’s opinion conceded that Oregon law did not “specifically reference” OTFC, it held that both the legislature and the governor had authorized OTFC’s expansive operations by implication. More precisely, that opinion found that ODOJ’s receipt of legislative funding implied legislative support for OTFC’s operations, while the governor’s prolonged awareness of OTFC implied executive permission to conduct its operations.

The Cato Institute filed an amicus brief urging the Oregon Court of Appeals to hold that the state’s Department of Justice cannot exercise such sweeping surveillance powers absent a specific legislative charter that clearly defines, limits, and justifies its authority. The trial court had upheld OTFC’s existence based on scattered references in the state budget and generic investigatory statutes; however, as Cato’s brief explained, due process forbids vesting open-ended discretion in executive officials without explicit statutory guidance.

Courts must read statutes to comply with the Constitution to the extent practicable. But ODOJ’s interpretation of its authority to operate OTFC cannot be squared with the due process of law that the Constitution requires. The Fourteenth Amendment not only guarantees due process but also safeguards against arbitrary state action. If the state is correct that OTFC is properly constituted under the statutory requirements, then the statutes that give it life confer an unbridled discretion to collect intelligence on state residents simply because they are exercising their First Amendment rights—which violates the Due Process Clause. Cato’s brief argued that the TITAN Fusion Center operated without law, limits, or legislative approval, and we will soon learn whether the Oregon Court of Appeals agrees.