Category «Civil Liberties»

Trump signs order seeking to overhaul US elections, including requiring proof of citizenship

Do you have, readily available, a valid copy of your birth certificate, indicating the first and last name by which you currently identify and conduct all other business and commerce related activities? If not, be prepared as this is yet another in a litany of rapid fire orders that Trump has issued to subvert our …

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

Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of his attacks

Follow up to Perkins Coie Drags Trump Administration Clear To Hell In New Lawsuit and Top Law Firm Capitulated to Trump Demands – via the Washington Post [no paywall]: “The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. The result overall has been called an extraordinary threat to the constitutional rights …

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

As Trump administration purges web pages, this group is rushing to save them

NPR: “…That is the Internet Archive,” said Mark Graham, the director of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, pointing to the server stacks. Graham was leading about a dozen visitors on a weekly public tour of the headquarters on a recent Friday in March. He projected his voice to be heard over the drone of the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Education, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries, Search Engines

U.S. Government Information: Trump Trackers

Kelly Smith, UC San Diego – These sources [maintained by advocacy groups, law firms, universities, media, think tanks] help researchers track the many changes being made by the Trump administration. The subjects matters are: Apportionment, Cabinet/Appointees; Cabinet/Appointees; Climate/Environment; Congressional Response; Corporate Enforcement; Data Rescue Projects; Executive Orders; Federal Policy; Federal Workforce; Health Care; Immigration; LGBTQ+; …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine

Internal USAID 400 page list provides snapshot of Trump cuts

The Hill: “A nearly 400-page list provided to Congress may give rare insight into the scope of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which have already roiled the global humanitarian community and shut down programs around the world.  Some of the cuts on the list appear to …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Cybersecurity, Economy, Education, Energy, Financial System, Food and Nutrition, Health Care, Medicine

History Professor Answers Dictator Questions

Via Wired YouTube Channel: “Professor and authoritarianism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about dictators and fascism. Why do people support dictators? How do dictators come to power? What’s the difference between a dictatorship, an autocracy, and authoritarianism? What are the most common personality traits found in tyrants and dictators? …

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

Public Records Reveal How Agencies Complied With Trump’s Anti-Trans Order

404 Media – Using the Freedom of Information Act, 404 Media has obtained several memos that government agencies were required to create by President Trump in order to comply with his “Defending Women” executive order. The memos explain exactly how different agencies are seeking to purge the notion that trans people exist. Many of the …

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

DEI related firings and threats spread to universities and law firms

Via LLRX – updated guide – Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired, Colleges Erase Programs, Law Firms Blackballed March 16, 2025 – March 17, 2025 – Empty Wheel [excerpted] Trump’s Legal Blackballing Effort Against Law Firms Now Includes 20 firms threatened by EEOC demanding information on DEI practices. Above the Law …

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

Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’

Wired [unpaywalled] “Musk’s loyalists at DOGE have infiltrated dozens of federal agencies, pushed out tens of thousands of workers, and siphoned millions of people’s most sensitive data. The next step: Unleash the AI…In the days and weeks that followed, DOGE hit one part of the federal government after another. The Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, E-Government, E-Records, Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Legal Research

Donald Trump, Revenge Junkie

Mother Jones, David Corn: “Now that he’s back in the White House—after his humiliating 2020 defeat—Trump has embarked on a revenge-a-thon that goes beyond what we might have expected even from a vengeance junkie. He has removed security protection from past aides who pissed him off—including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Congress, Courts, Cybercrime, Defense, Education, Energy, Environmental Law, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Housing, Internet, Legal Research