Free Republic

Judicial Watch obtains the first court-ordered production of Strzok-Page communications from the FBI (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has received 87 pages of records from the Department of Justice revealing former top FBI official Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page’s profanity-laced disdain for FBI hierarchy and policies. The DOJ, meanwhile, is resisting Judicial Watch’s request for a court order to preserve all responsive Page-Strzok communications. Strzok and Page’s anti-Trump text messages became center-stage amid allegations of bias at the Bureau, and both have been subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary and the Oversight and...

The Justice Department acknowledged that it misled a federal Appeals Court during oral arguments last month in a case reviewing whether the government should be able to secretly conduct electronic surveillance of Americans without a warrant. In a newly unsealed letter, a Justice Department lawyer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that it spoke erroneously when describing the disclosure restrictions placed upon the FBI's use of so-called national security letters. NSLs, as they are often referred, can compel companies to hand over communications data or financial records of certain users to authorities conducting a national security...

A federal judge has ruled that Google must comply with the FBI's warrantless requests for confidential user data, despite the search company's arguments that the secret demands are illegal.

A federal judge this week struck down a controversial set of laws allowing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to seek people's records without a court's approval, saying the strict secrecy orders demanded by the laws are not constitutional. Judge Susan Illston, of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said the laws, which underlie a tool known as a "national security letter," violate the First Amendment and the separation of powers principles. In her order, Judge Illston ordered the government to stop issuing national security letters or enforcing their gag orders, although she said enforcement of her judgment...

The Justice Department's inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the expanded power to issue "national security letters." It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision -- demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval -- to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me. Three years ago, I received a national...

THIS WEEK, Congress considers legislation extending the implementation of the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Understandably, the debate surrounding the bill is fraught with emotion.At issue, however, is whether the proposed changes take appropriate steps to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans. I believe they do not. Given the importance of these individual freedoms, I cannot support the bill in its current form.Ultimately, this debate is about police powers — powers granted by the people to government — and the balance we strike between these forceful tools and the rights of individuals.Provisions written into the Constitution and in laws are designed...

Secret law, secret lawsuit(snip) To no one's surprise, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the constitutionality of parts of the USA Patriot Act, the sweeping security law passed in the immediate aftermath of 9-11. To what should be everyone's shock, the mere fact of the lawsuit was kept secret under provisions of the act. "It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," said the ACLU. Remarkable and also scary. (snip) National Security Letters are a kind...