Saturday, June 1, 2002

Tennessee Corrections Ban Magazine Nudity Mr. Cone, the Tennessee inmate challenging this ban, rightly questions what prison function banning these magazines serves, or whether the ban is in fact intended to simply harass the inmates. 7:39:34 PM

Ban on Capitol Step Protests Thrown Out "The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a First Amendment constitutional challenge to the rules, which prohibit "demonstration activity" like parading, picketing, leafleting, vigils, sit-ins and speechmaking." 7:33:01 PM

US Argues Against Lawyer for Citizen Detainee "The government argued today that Yasser Esam Hamdi, a prisoner from the Afghan war who was born in Baton Rouge, La., and is in custody in Norfolk, should not be allowed to see a lawyer for national security reasons." The article points out that the government may be attempting to withhold representation from Hamdi so that he will not be able to be called by the defense in John Walker Lindh's case. 7:27:21 PM

ACLU Publishes "Insatiable Appetite" Report The ACLU released its in-depth report on how deeply the government has eroded civil liberties since the terrorist attacks and how much more security the loss of these freedoms has now afforded us. The full report is available for download at the bottom of the page. 1:22:28 AM

Public Library Internet Filtering Law Thrown Out The Supreme Court found the famous "Children's Internet Protection Act", which mandated internet filtering software on public library computers, to be unconstitutional for placing undue restrictions on free speech. [Update: the law was actually rejected by a special district court, and the case may be appealed to the supreme court. Information also available from the NYT and the Press-Herald. 1:19:04 AM

Judge Rejects Secret Immigration Hearings From the NYT: "The judge, John W. Bissell of United States District Court in Newark, said deportation hearings could be closed on a case-by-case basis if the government thought an open hearing would disclose sensitive information." 1:08:46 AM

9/11 Preventable With Available Information The fact that, even without enroaching on our cherished civil liberties, the FBI should have been able to piece together the 9/11 plot illustrates not only the need for reorganization at the FBI, but also the need to remove the USA-PATRIOT and other related legislation. 1:05:38 AM

Ashcroft Allows Spying on Religious and Political Groups In another enroachment on civil liberties through the War on Terrorism, Ashcroft and Muller are rolling back restrictions on domestic spying put in place 25 years ago. These new standards will allow surveillance in any case, notwithstanding probable cause. [Update: Ashcroft is also now allowing agents to surf the web. What a relief!] 1:00:38 AM

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ... Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish sentiments on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of this liberty;...

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