Rashida Tlaib Is Trying to Fix the Espionage Act, but Whistleblowers Are Probably Out of Luck

By James Risen — The Intercept

The antiquated measure is an abuse of the legal system, but the Justice Department has no incentive to stop using it.

For more than 100 years, the Espionage Act, one of the worst laws in American history, has stayed on the books, impervious to reform.

‘It Would Force the Government to Actually Prove Espionage, not Whistleblowing’

By Janine Jackson — FAIR.org

CounterSpin interview with Chip Gibbons on why Assange matters

Janine Jackson interviewed Chip Gibbons about the latest updates in the Julian Assange case for the July 8, 2022, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

America’s High-Tech Surveillance Could Track Abortion-Seekers, Too, Activists Warn

By Rebecca Chowdhury – Time

Alejandra Pablos leans into the camera, and her curly black hair frames her face. “We are going to hear about abortions,” she says to viewers watching via Instagram Live. Every Tuesday, Pablos hosts virtual Abortion Speak Outs.

Supreme Court Expands Government Secrecy Powers in Torture-Related Case

By Robert Pallitto, Foreign Policy in Focus

The U.S. government doesn’t want to acknowledge a Polish torture site that everyone knows about.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently on the government’s use of the state secrets doctrine in an opinion that will make it easier for intelligence agencies to evade accountability in future individual rights cases. In U.S. v. Zubaydah, government torture policy and state secrets converge. A torture victim requested information related to his treatment at a CIA “black site,” and the government blocked that request, citing national security interests. Seven members of the Court joined parts of an opinion siding with the government, with only Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch dissenting. The case has implications for other torture-related cases and for government accountability more broadly as it expands state secrecy powers based on a doctrine that was already overbroad, and suspect in its origins.

Apologist for Tucker Carlson’s Racism: Glenn Greenwald

By Eoin Higgins

There’s no plausible way to dispute that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is spreading racist conspiracy theories, but Glenn Greenwald has been trying anyway.

Biden administration issued subpoena for details of Guardian reporter’s phone

Ed Pilkington in New York – The Guardian

The subpoena that was used by the US justice department to obtain details of a Guardian reporter’s phone account, as part of a leak inquiry, was issued by the Biden administration within the opening weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency.

US surveillance of Americans must stop

by Elizabeth Goitein, opinion contributor – The Hill

When Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) had misused foreign intelligence surveillance laws to collect millions of Americans’ phone records, the resulting public outcry eventually led Congress to ban the practice. How would Americans and their lawmakers react if they learned that the government was misusing these powers to access the actual contents of millions of Americans’ communications, without a warrant or even a factual basis to suspect criminal activity?

Press Release: The Vital Role of Whistleblower Protections for Law Enforcement Officers

A new report published by Government Accountability Project entitled “Breaking The Blue Wall of Silence: The Vital Role of Whistleblower Protections for Law Enforcement Officers,” provides a comprehensive overview of whistleblowing in the law enforcement community and seeks to begin a productive dialogue around this crucial, though often overlooked, aspect of police reform. This report is launched after an interview with our Legal Director Tom Devine on NPR’s “On The Media” about the horrific experiences of law enforcement whistleblowers who suffer chilling, and sometimes life-threatening retaliation for reporting abuses by their fellow cops. Protecting law enforcement whistleblowers who witness wrongdoing is a critical component of addressing the vacuum of meaningful accountability in law enforcement.

We’re Suing the FBI. And the NSA.

Defending Rights & Dissent — May 4, 2022

On Friday April 29, 2022, Defending Rights & Dissent brought a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act against the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Defending Right & Dissent Opposes Any FBI Probe Into Identity of Source of Politico’s Supreme Court Reporting

Defending Rights & Dissent — May 3, 2022

In an unprecedented first for journalism, Politico reported on and published a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning decades of precedent that a right to privacy protected the right to have an abortion. Since this bombshell revelation, Chief Justice John Roberts has confirmed the authenticity of the draft. He also asked the Marshall of the Supreme Court to investigate the identity of Politico’s source. Some have even called for the FBI to join the investigation. A number of individuals, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are already publicly advocating that the journalists’ source be criminally prosecuted. Defending Right & Dissent Policy Director Chip Gibbons had the following comment