Category «Civil Liberties»

Supreme Court’s conservative justices uphold Ohio’s voter purge system

Vox: “The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s system for purging voters from the rolls. The Court split 5-4 along partisan lines, with the five conservative-leaning justices, in a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, upholding the system and the four liberal-leaning justices opposing it. The ruling focused in large part on technical interpretations …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents

Immigration Court Backlog Jumps While Case Processing Slows

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “The Immigration Court’s backlog keeps rising. As of the end of May 2018, the number of cases waiting decision reached an all-time high of 714,067. This compares with a court backlog of 542,411 cases at the end of January 2017 when President Trump assumed office. During his term the backlog has …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research

For first time in 87 years a California judge was recalled from the bench

Washington Post: Voters remove judge who sentenced Brock Turner to six months in Stanford sexual assault case – “The California judge who evoked national outrage after sentencing Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail after his conviction for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman was ousted from office Tuesday night following a tempestuous …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Legal Research

Restricting Books behind Bars Books-to-prisoners groups face roadblocks

American Libraries: “Backlash was swift when it was publicized in January that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) had begun requiring that packages to prisoners come from a handful of state-approved vendors only.  While the package contents were not limited to books, the proposed change hampered books-to-prisoners organizations in their …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

Criminal Prosecutions Jump 60% for Illegal Border Crossers

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse: “Federal criminal prosecutions of individuals apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the southwest border with Mexico jumped 30 percent in April 2018 over March figures. Since January, criminal prosecutions were up 60 percent, rising from 5,191 in January to 8,298 in April. This increase followed rising border apprehensions and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

AP – US expects fallout from Snowden leaks for years to come

AP: “National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off U.S. government surveillance methods five years ago, but intelligence chiefs complain that revelations from the trove of classified documents he disclosed are still trickling out. That includes recent reporting on a mass surveillance program run by close U.S. ally Japan and on how the …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Removal of 26 Documents for Asylum Officer Training from the USCIS Website

Sunlight Foundation: “The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) removed a cache of materials on its asylum process shortly after President Donald Trump took office, a reduction in access detailed in our latest Web Integrity Project report. The 26 removed documents, which collectively run to several hundred pages, constitute training materials for USCIS asylum officers, …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Largest federal employee union sues Trump over rollback of union protections

Washington Post – Largest federal employee union sues Trump over rollback of union protections – “The American Federation of Government Employees claims that Trump’s executive order violates the First Amendment guarantee of the right to freedom of association and oversteps the president’s constitutional authority.” …On Friday [May 25, 2018  President Trump]…used his ultimate weapon, his power …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research

Why ABC reacted so swiftly to Roseanne’s racist tweet

The Conversation – Anjana Susarla Associate Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University: “ABC Entertainment, which produced the revamped version of “Roseanne,” is the latest company to learn the challenge of doing business in an age when citizen activism is amplified by social media. The network canceled the hit show after its star, Roseanne Barr, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Internet, Legal Research, Marketing, Social Media

The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States

National Academies Press: “Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

The irony of #MeToo – change is not evident for so many – on the job

Axios: “It’s not just politics. Tech companies are trying to improve their perpetual gender imbalance, the Financial Times reports, by “training staff in unconscious bias, … insisting that shortlists include women, improving referral incentives, … enhancing maternity rights and showcasing female role models on social media.” BUT BUT– HuffPo: “Everyone Is Missing A Key Reason …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Economy, Government Documents