July, 14 2015, 04:00pm EDT
![ACLU](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012694/origin.png)
ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Halt NSA's Resumption of Bulk Phone Records Collection
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today asked the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' call records, arguing that immediate action is necessary because the government has resumed surveillance that the appeals court ruled to be illegal.
NEW YORK
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today asked the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' call records, arguing that immediate action is necessary because the government has resumed surveillance that the appeals court ruled to be illegal.
"This dragnet surveillance program should never have been launched, and it should certainly be terminated now," said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU. "Not even the government contends anymore that the program has been effective, and the 2nd Circuit has already concluded that the program is illegal. It's a needless and unlawful intrusion into the privacy rights of millions of innocent Americans."
The ACLU and the NYCLU filed their challenge to the NSA's call-records program in June of 2013, just a few days after the program was exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. In May, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit agreed with the ACLU that the program is unlawful because the statute the government relies on to justify it -- Section 215 of the Patriot Act -- does not permit the gathering of Americans' sensitive information on such a massive scale. In its ruling, the court stated that it would not order a stop to the surveillance because the provision was set to expire on June 1 and Congress was debating whether the provision should be reauthorized, modified, or allowed to sunset.
The program was temporarily halted on June 1 when Congress let Section 215 expire. On June 2, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act, reform legislation that prohibits bulk collection of call records by the government and requires that the NSA get an individualized court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before obtaining call records from telecommunications companies.
The government argued to the FISC that the new law allows it to continue bulk collection during a 180-day transition period, even though the language regarding collection has not changed since the 2nd Circuit held that it does not allow such surveillance. The FISC agreed with the government and allowed the NSA to revive the program.
The brief filed by the ACLU today argues that the government is misinterpreting the law, and that the law does not in fact permit bulk collection during the transition period.
"The crucial fact . . . is that the language the government is relying on to collect call records now is precisely the same language this Court has already concluded does not permit that surveillance," the brief states. "There is no sound reason to accord this language a different meaning now than the court accorded it in May."
The ACLU also argues that bulk collection of call records would be unconstitutional even if Congress had authorized it, because it violates rights guaranteed by the First and Fourth Amendments.
"The government says it will wind down this unconstitutional program eventually, but the Constitution doesn't have a grace period," said Alex Abdo, the ACLU staff attorney who argued the case before the 2nd Circuit. "Bulk collection is unconstitutional and must end."
Today's brief is available here:
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/aclu-v-clapper-aclu-motion-preliminary-injunction-0
The May 7 ruling is at:
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/clapper-ca2-opinion.pdf
This press release is at:
https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-asks-appeals-court-halt-nsas-resumption-bulk-phone-records-collection
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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Israel's West Bank Assault Sparks 250% Surge in Killings of Palestinian Kids
"We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the street," said the U.N. agency.
Jul 22, 2024
Three days after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful, the United Nations children's rights agency said that after decades of being "exposed to horrific violence," the number of children who have been killed in the West Bank since last October has skyrocketed.
Since Israel began its bombardment of the Palestinian territories nearly 10 months ago—with Gaza the primary target of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacks, but with West Bank communities also subjected to raids and other violence—143 Palestinian children have been killed in the West Bank, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The number represents a 250% increase compared to the nine months preceding the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, after which the IDF began retaliating in the occupied territories.
"The situation has deteriorated significantly, coinciding with the escalation of hostilities inside Gaza," said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. "We are seeing frequent allegations of Palestinian children being detained on their way home from school, or shot while walking on the streets. The violence needs to stop now."
More than half of the killings have been reported in the cities of Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin, the latter of which was the site of a major raid by Israeli forces earlier this month, in which 12 Palestinians were killed. All three cities have seen a rise in "militarized law enforcement operations" over the last two years, said UNICEF, as Israeli soldiers and settlers have stormed parts of the territory " to scare Palestinians out of" their homes, as the International Crisis Group reported last year.
Some of the killings of children in the West Bank over the last 10 months have received international attention, like the Israeli forces' shooting of two children, Basil Suleiman Abu al-Wafa and Adam Samer al-Ghoul, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in November.
Al-Ghoul, who was nine, was shown on CCTV footage trying to run away from IDF soldiers when he was gunned down.
"Children's right to life must be upheld and children should never be the target of violence, no matter who or where they are," said UNICEF in a statement, noting that more than 440 Palestinian children have also been injured by live ammunition in the West Bank since last October.
The agency said that as the death toll has risen in the West Bank, children have reported being afraid to walk through their own neighborhoods or attend school.
The children killed there since October are among more than 500 Palestinians killed in IDF raids and settler attacks over the last 10 months—more than three times the number killed there in 2022.
Since October, two Israeli children have been killed in fighting the West Bank, said UNICEF.
"The true cost of the violence in the state of Palestine and Israel will be measured in children's lives—those lost and those forever changed by it," said Russell. "What the children desperately need is an end to violence and a lasting political solution to the crisis, so that they can reach their fullest potential in peace and safety."
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Harris Urged to Take 'Clear Stance' Against Weapons Sales for Israel
"Vice President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden's horrific policies in Gaza," said one organizer.
Jul 22, 2024
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris faced swift calls to support cutting off arms transfers to Israel after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race on Sunday, leaving her the heavy favorite to take his place at the top of the Democratic ticket in November.
Advocates who organized the movement that urged voters to mark "uncommitted" on their ballots to protest Biden's military and diplomatic support for Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip said Harris should publicly demand an end to weapons sales for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has repeatedly used American arms commit atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.
"For months, we've warned that Biden's support for Israel's assault on Gaza would hurt his electability," Layla Elabed, the leader of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Sunday. "Now, it's crucial for Vice President Harris to take a clear stance against weapons for Israel's war and occupation against Palestinians."
"Supplying weapons to Netanyahu's regime makes a mockery of Democrats' claims to fight against MAGA authoritarianism," Elabed added. "By funding a government committing human rights abuses, we undermine our party’s stance against far-right extremism and contradict our commitment to democracy and justice. It's time to align our actions with our values. Vice President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden's horrific policies in Gaza."
Harris has spoken forcefully against the Israeli government's attacks on civilians and obstruction of humanitarian aid in Gaza. In a March speech in Selma, Alabama, Harris said that "what we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating," pointing to "reports of families eating leaves or animal feed."
"Women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care," Harris said at the time. "And children dying from malnutrition and dehydration. As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."
The vice president called for a cease-fire of at least six weeks in that speech, which officials at the White House National Security Council reportedly watered down. The original draft of Harris' speech "was harsher on Israel about the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the need for more aid than were the remarks she ultimately delivered," NBC Newsreported, citing an unnamed U.S. official and former official.
"The Democratic nominee must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government and establishing a foreign policy centered in human rights."
The Biden administration has signed off on billions of dollars worth of weaponry for Israel since the Hamas-led October 7 attack. Earlier this month, the administration faced backlash for lifting a pause on a delivery of 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel's military.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action argued in a statement Monday that the "tireless work of the movement for Palestinian freedom that has organized from the streets to the ballot box to demand a cease-fire and an end to this genocide has played a key role in bringing us to this moment," referring to Biden's decision to exit the presidential race.
"For nine and a half months, President Biden has funded and armed the brutal Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making the U.S. government directly complicit in the killing of at least 39,000 people, including over 15,000 children," the advocacy group said. "The Democratic nominee must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government and establishing a foreign policy centered in human rights."
Calls for the eventual Democratic nominee to break from the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza came as Netanyahu traveled to Washington, D.C. ahead of a scheduled address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday. Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday ahead of the address, which many Democratic lawmakers are planning to boycott.
Some expressed hope that a Harris presidency would mark a significant improvement over Biden's administration on Gaza.
"While by no means a champion of the cause, I've heard numerous people note that Vice President Harris exhibited a deeply different emotional reaction to the stories of Palestinian suffering than President Biden," Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, toldThe Intercept on Sunday.
"While the vice presidency is limited, many feel that she would be an improvement from Biden's severe lack of empathy for Palestinians and his ties to the AIPAC old guard in the party," Shahid added. "However, challenging AIPAC's power within the Democratic Party establishment remains a formidable task regardless of who the nominee is."
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the lone Palestinian American in Congress, notably did not join many of her progressive colleagues in endorsing Harris after Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday.
In a statement to The Detroit News, Tlaib expressed support for an open Democratic convention and said she was "eager" to talk with Harris about "an end to the funding of genocide in Gaza" and a cease-fire.
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Open Convention or Harris 'Coronation'? Democrats Weigh Options After Biden Exit
"If Kamala Harris wants the nomination, and wants it to be worth anything, she has to at least show that she fought for it and won it cleanly," argued one commentator.
Jul 22, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris quickly racked up endorsements from major Democratic figures—including President Joe Biden—and received the backing of deep-pocketed party donors on Sunday after the incumbent exited the 2024 contest in the face of insurmountable pressure.
But while much of the party coalesced around the vice president and argued she's the obvious choice to take on Republican nominee Donald Trump in November, some Democrats and commentators made the case for a competitive nominating process, contending that it would strengthen the eventual candidate and avoid the appearance of an undemocratic "coronation."
Former President Barack Obama was the most prominent Democrat to hint at support for something resembling an open convention, saying in a statement that he has "extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."
Prior to Biden's exit, dozens of former Democratic lawmakers endorsed an open convention, writing in an open letter that the process would "energize the party and capture the imagination and interest of voters—especially younger and marginalized voters—who have been uninspired by the choices so far."
"I am for an open convention—huge media coverage leading up and during—knock the Trump campaign off kilter and off the air!" former Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), one of the letter's signatories, wrote in a social media post on Sunday.
Opponents of an open convention, meanwhile, argued such a process would be chaotic, divisive, and inherently damaging to the party's prospects.
"Democrats have a choice to make: unite and win, or fight each other and lose," said Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressives in Congress also made the case for rallying behind Harris rather than leaving the door open to potential Democratic challengers and requiring Harris to win the nomination at the party's convention in Chicago next month.
"Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media. "Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let's get to work."
It's unclear whether any viable challenger would emerge should Democrats opt for an open convention, but Harris herself said after Biden dropped his reelection bid that her "intention is to earn and win this nomination."
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is reportedly considering re-registering as a Democrat to compete for the nomination—a bid that would be doomed to fail given that he's reviled by the Democratic Party's progressive wing and much of the establishment for obstructing significant elements of Biden's legislative agenda.
(Update: Manchin toldCBS News Monday morning that he is "not going to be a candidate for president.")
NOTUSreported Sunday that "a small group of Democratic leaders are seen as having the credibility and resources to challenge for the nomination," including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Shapiro and Newsom both endorsed Harris on Sunday.
According toThe New York Times, some Democrats privately "argued that a more competitive process would benefit Ms. Harris because it could dispel doubts about her political skills." Notably, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were not among the Democratic lawmakers who endorsed Harris on Sunday.
Drop Site's Ryan Grim observed Sunday that "the conventional wisdom is that an open convention is simply never going to happen, and if it does it will be a disaster for Democrats—weeks of infighting and chaos that'll drag the party down."
"But that argument is merely a mix of assumption and assertion," Grim wrote. "With a little imagination, that chaos could be turned toward the party's advantage at a time when it's desperately needed. The argument for coronating Kamala Harris doesn't consider how it would look for a party that is in the grip of a legitimacy crisis—Democratic elites were the last in the country to acknowledge Biden's frailty—to foist a new nominee on the public."
"If Kamala Harris wants the nomination, and wants it to be worth anything, she has to at least show that she fought for it and won it cleanly," he added. "And the only way to do that is at an open convention."
The Democratic National Committee's (DNC) rules panel is set to meet this week to "implement a framework to select a new nominee," as The Wall Street Journalreported. The panel's co-chairs, according to the Journal, vowed the process would be "comprehensive, fair, and expeditious."
Before Biden's exit, the DNC was planning to hold a virtual roll call vote early next month to cement the incumbent president as the Democratic nominee weeks before the party's convention in Chicago.
It's unclear whether the DNC plans to move ahead with a virtual vote.
"While an open convention would undoubtedly be entertaining to watch, I doubt we'll see that," said Dan Tokaji, an election law expert at the University of Wisconsin Law School. "It's possible that delegates will vote to nominate Harris before the convention even begins."
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