Category «Civil Liberties»

Anti-Jewish Hate Crimes Comprised Nearly 70% of All Religion-Based Hate Crimes in 2024

Homeland Security Newswire: “Jews only make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, but reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 16 percent of all reported hate crimes and nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024. Hate crimes data released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveals that while reported hate …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research

DetentionReports.com Provides Valuable Updated Data about ICE Facilities

Austin Kocher – Substack: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released updated detention statistics on Thursday, and we’ve already updated Detention Reports accordingly. The website now includes 184 facility reports based on ICE data from June 23, 2025, and July 21, 2025. Thanks to the valuable feedback of many users, we have already made improvements in …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research

Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda

The New York Times [no paywall]: “The Trump administration’s sweeping policy changes have been resisted with a wave of lawsuits. Hundreds have been filed by state attorneys and media organizations, physicians and nonprofits, migrants, international students, law firms and unions. Jump to a section – The dozens of lawsuits fall into these categories. Birthright citizenship …

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

Protecting the Virtual You: Safeguarding Americans’ Online Data

Statement of Alan Butler, Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). Hearing on “Protecting the Virtual You: Safeguarding Americans’ Online Data Before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, July 30, 2025. “Chair Blackburn, Ranking Member Klobuchar, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health

Via LLRX – The Trump Administration’s Continued War Against Science, Research and Public Health – Sabrina I. Pacifici’s overview of selected articles highlights the devastating impact of the Trump administration’s dismantling of agencies across the federal government, with a focus on cancelling critical scientific and health related research grants, as reported in July, 2025. The total …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Economy, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Medicine

How Trump’s crackdown on law firms is undermining legal defenses for the vulnerable

Reuters: “Dozens of major law firms, wary of political retaliation, have scaled back pro bono work, diversity initiatives and litigation that could place them in conflict with the Trump administration, a Reuters investigation found. Many firms are making a strategic calculation: withdraw from pro bono work frowned on by Trump, or risk becoming the next …

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

‘Fuck the Justice Manual’: A New Trump DOJ Assault on the Rule of Law

TMP Morning Memo – “The Justice Manual is the DOJ’s internal handbook of rules on prosecutorial conduct. According to a damning Bloomberg Law piece, Bill Essayli, Trump’s interim US Attorney in Los Angeles, said “fuck the Justice Manual” in response to questions from line attorneys about his pursuit of indictments against anti-ICE protesters. (Morning Memo …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Substack Is Where Writers Go to Be Weird

Vulture [no paywall] “It has become the premier destination for literary types’ unpublished musings. What is an author without an editor? Look to Substack for your answer. You’ll find the novelist Garth Greenwell reflecting on a single paragraph from James Baldwin’s Another Country for 3,500 words; Fuccboi author Sean Thor Conroe on “why Faulkner is …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Internet, Social Media

The Rule of Law Is Dead in the US

The Nation – Elie Mystal: “The rule of law presupposes that there are rules that provide a consistent, repeatable, and knowable set of outcomes. That’s no longer the case. Idid not write an “end of term” Supreme Court review piece this year because… what’s the point? The intellectual exercise of parsing how the conservative supermajority …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Courts, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

Google could be reading your ChatGPT conversations. Concerned? You should be

Fast Company – no paywall – “Google is indexing conversations with ChatGPT that users have sent to friends, families, or colleagues—turning private exchanges intended for small groups into search results visible to millions. A basic Google site search using part of the link created when someone proactively clicks “Share” on ChatGPT can uncover conversations where …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

United States Placed on Global Rights Watch List for Attacks on Civic Freedoms

“The United States of America (USA) remains on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist following sustained attacks on civic freedoms. In the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term, authorities have escalated suppression of protesters through military deployments, targeted journalists, criminalised dissent, and undermined civil society through legislative and financial restrictions. Freedoms guaranteed in the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Ebooks are on the line as Congress considers future of library funding

USA Today – no paywall: “…States’ libraries to lose as much as half their funding – The Institute for Museum and Library Services, a tiny, little known federal agency, provides grants to states, accounting for between 30% and 50% of state library budgets, according to the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. For decades it …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research