Congress will soon decide the fate of the law that governs America's main foreign intelligence spying program. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will expire this December 31st, requiring Congressional approval to reauthorize. This sunset and reauthorization is an opportunity to implement needed reforms. One of the most important is to end "back door" searches. This reform would require law enforcement agencies like the FBI to get a probable cause warrant approved by a judge before they search the vast troves of NSA communications data for evidence of crimes that can be used against U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. End Backdoor Searches Although Section 702 is seen by many as a necessary and useful tool in U.S. foreign intelligence and anti-terrorism operations, it has a glaring flaw when it comes to protecting the privacy of U.S. persons. When an intelligence agency like the NSA collects communications data under Section 702, it is suppo...
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The Trump administration has nominated Eric Dreiband as head of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ despite, or perhaps because of, his long history of protecting employers from civil rights lawsuits. Though the former Vice Chair of the EEOC described him as a very smart lawyer, with integrity, dedicated to civil rights laws, both she and Dreiband have spent most of their professional lives advocating on behalf of employers involved in employment and civil rights disputes.In this regard, Dreiband is no slouch. He represented Abercrombie & Fitch at the Supreme Court, unsuccessfully arguing that they were entitled to discriminate against a woman for wearing a headscarf based on their 'look policy.'More recently Dreiband has represented RJReynolds against EEOC in a claim of age discrimination, which he won strongly at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal, a court dominated by Clinton and Obama nominees. He also represented Bloomberg L.P. against the EEOC on issues of pregnancy and mat...
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The Trump administration Department of Justice (DoJ) has inserted itself into a private lawsuit in an attempt to roll back anti-discrimination protections for LGBT Americans in the workplace. The administration has taken the unusual step of arguing for both sides of a civil rights case. At issue in Zarda v. Altitude Express, is whether Title VII protects workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation. In June, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed an amicus brief arguing that Title VII, which bans discrimination based on sex, also applies to sexual orientation because "such claims necessarily involve impermissible consideration of a plaintiff's sex, gender-based associational discrimination, and sex stereotyping." This is the same position taken by the Department of Justice and EEOC under Obama. However, in July, the DOJ filed an amicus brief arguing the exact opposite. The DOJ now claims that "sex" as defined in Title VII does not include sexual orientation and...
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Introduction The August recess for Congress is here, making it a critical time for you to engage with your elected officials. Representatives began their break on July 28, and the Senate a few days later on August 3. Congress will be back in session after the Labor Day weekend on September 5.This document will arm you with the information you need to ask challenging, hard-hitting questions of your representatives at town halls, meetings or other events. The RISE Stronger Policy Working Group Program has prepared for you overviews of key topics on the national agenda across a range of areas, including the economy and jobs; education; energy and the environment; ethics and open government; foreign policy and national security; healthcare; infrastructure and urban policy; justice and civil liberties; science and technology; and trade and development. These key issues are summarized with background information and relevant questions for you to ask, as well as additional resources for yo...
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HB 142 is the newest compromise in the attempt by Democrats to repeal North Carolina's controversial "bathroom bill," HB 2, which was passed last year. HB 2 made it illegal for a person to go into a multi-stall bathroom in a school or public agency facility if that person's biological sex was different than the gender allowed in the particular bathroom. It was a bill targeted against the trans community and caused public outcry.The NCAA threatened to not schedule any of its championship games in North Carolina from 2018-2022 if HB 2 was not repealed. As the deadline for the NCAA's decisions on state bids looms (some reports indicate that NCAA gave North Carolina a 48-hour deadline yesterday to repeal HB 2), state Republicans and Democratic Governor Roy Cooper introduce HB 142 today. HB 142 repeals HB 2 but continues to leave the state legislature in charge of bathrooms, showers, and changing facilities in schools and public agencies. Additionally, it explicitly bans local government...
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Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on whether to strip you of privacy protection from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).Call to Action: The House may vote as soon as tomorrow upon the measure. We urge you to contact your member of Congress and ask them to vote No to weakening consumer privacy (S.J. 34). Find your Rep. Find your Senator.Last Thursday, March 23, the Senate voted along party lines to eliminate Obama-era privacy rules meant to protect you from invasive surveillance by ISPs like Comcast and Time-Warner. 50 Republicans (with two abstaining) voted against all 48 Democrats to kill the rules established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The vote was conducted using the Congressional Review Act, which has the power to nullify federal regulations and, furthermore, to prevent similar rules from ever being introduced again.The privacy rules had required that ISPs give consumers meaningful notice about privacy surveillance and the ability to opt int...