Free Republic

Wow, talk about an overreach.

In the final hours of the Trump presidency, the U.S. Justice Department raised privacy concerns to thwart the release of hundreds of pages of documents that Donald Trump had declassified to expose FBI abuses during the Russia collusion probe, and the agency then defied a subsequent order to release the materials after redactions were made, according to interviews and documents. The previously untold story of how highly anticipated declassified material never became public is contained in a memo obtained by Just the News from the National Archives that was written by then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows just hours...

On Dec. 10, Lisa Page filed a complaint against the Department of Justice and the FBI for alleged violations of the Privacy Act related to the disclosure of information about her to the media. The document is available here and below.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has adopted a new rule that allows the agency to collect social-media data from those who cross the border. The agency claims the exemption from Privacy Act provisions is necessary because it needs “to identity and understand relationships between individuals, entities, threats and events, and to monitor patterns of activity over extended periods of time that may be indicative of criminal, terrorist, or other threat.” A number of privacy groups and interests had opposed the expansion of the exemptions to the privacy law, but the agency in a filing in the Federal Register explained that...

This past week, Macon Phillips, President Obama’s director of new media announced (under a heading “Facts are Stubborn Things”) that there was a lot of “disinformation” being circulated about the proposed health care plan and asked anyone who received an email critical of it or who “see[s] something on the web about health insurance reform that seems ‘fishy’” to report it to flag@whitehouse.gov. Several commenters, noting the chilling effect a database of opponents of the White House might have, suggested that a suit might be brought for violation of the Privacy Act of 1974, a post-Nixon statute that prohibits federal...

President Obama may have taken his efforts to discredit citizens protesting against ObamaCare a little too far. It is beginning to be reminiscent of the Richard Nixon administration's attempt to stifle dissent by spying on American citizens. Thirty-five years ago, President Richard Nixon claimed constitutional authority to wiretap Americans' phone calls.

Update on latest information from Berg v. Obama regarding eligibility for POTUS.

Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy urged the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington on Thursday not to throw out her case seeking a reporter’s privilege to keep her sources confidential. Locy became embroiled in the legal battle after reporting about Steven Hatfill, the former Army scientist who was investigated in the 2001 anthrax attacks but whose name has since been cleared. When Locy refused to give up her confidential sources in Hatfill's ensuing Privacy Act suit against the government, the U.S. District Court in D.C. held her in contempt. She appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.

Julie Myers is 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee to the Bush administration with limited executive experience. Yet, she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Myers appointment, in the wake of FEMA's disastrous handling of the Katrina Hurricane and the resignation of its chief, Michael Brown, has people from both sides of the political aisle raising hackles. "The Bush administration has barely rebounded from the resignation of horse show organizer Michael ‘Heck...

"Information-sharing" has been the mantra driving the creation of the Homeland Security Department. That refrain seems straightforward enough until policy makers pause to consider what it means for government to collect and use personal information in the war on terrorism. They will find both practical and legal obstacles--including the Privacy Act--to the creation of such government databases. The legislation creating the new department did nothing to loosen the government's data-handling rules, but an intense interest in one project, the Total Information Awareness system, within the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has focused attention on the privacy issues inherent in...

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, P.C.ATTORNEYS AT LAW 3233 P Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20007-2756 (202) 342-6980 · FAX (202) 342-6984 For more information contact: (202) 342-6980FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Federal Judge Permits Linda Tripp to Prove Multiple Privacy Act Violations Committed By Defense DepartmentBush Administration Motion to Dismiss Denied Washington, D.C. , September 4, 2002 – In a 19-page written ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has rejected the Bush Administration’s attempt to dismiss a complaint filed by Mrs. Linda Tripp alleging that the Defense Department committed multiple violations of the Privacy Act over a 2-month period of time...

A United States District Court Judge in Washington D.C. today denied a motion for summary Judgment filed by the Defense Department, allowing Linda Tripp's Privacy Act violation suit against the Department to continue forward. Dates have been scheduled for further filings and for discovery plans to be submitted. A status hearing has been ordered for October 4, 2002, in Washington, D.C. Details regarding this civil lawsuit may be found on Linda Tripp's web site (http://www.lindatripp.com). An Adobe Acrobat copy of the court documents regarding this decision is found here.

U.S. attorneys in Oregon and that state's regional Social Security Administration announced the sentencing of Juventino Lira-Carmona, a Mexican national who had assumed the identity of a deceased American and used the decedent's Social Security number (SSN) to gain employment and illegally remain in the United States. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lira-Carmona was arrested after filing a false application for a U.S. passport. Officials reported that he was placed on probation for one year and remanded immediately into the custody of agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for removal to Mexico....

Last week, Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) was joined in a press conference by an interesting coalition of national organizations and legislators in support of a new bill. In attendance were both the National Rifle Association and American Civil Liberties Union. The ultra liberals Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC) were there, as were folks from the Eagle Forum. Lucky for us, so was Dave Boyer, reporting for The Washington Times.(1) The event was called by Rep. Barr to introduce the Federal Agency Protection of Privacy Act, a bill Barr says was drafted to "improve the regulatory process...