Constitution

June 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Boumediene v. Bush, which held that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have the right to contest their detention in federal courts:

Guantanamo Bay protest outside US Supreme Court: Photo by takomabibelot (CC)

“Today, our nation’s highest court again rejected the Bush Administration’s expansive view of executive power.    » read more »

June 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today after news reports indicated that Senator McCain supports President Bush’s wire-tapping program:

John McCain: Photo by Christy Frink (CC)    » read more »

April 21, 2008 -- Residents who participated in Michigan's Jan. 15 presidential primary won't have their political party preferences revealed thanks to Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's commitment to voter privacy.

Land is refusing to release information regarding which partisan ballot each voter selected in the Jan. 15 election. Public Act 52 of 2007, which set the Jan. 15 election date, required the Secretary of State to provide Michigan's Democratic and Republican parties with a list showing voters' party preferences.

Vote here sign, Michigan primary election: Photo by Ben+Sam (CC)    » read more »

March 13, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statement after review of the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) use of National Security Letters (NSL) and 215 orders in 2006, as well as subsequent corrective actions taken last year.

The reports are linked below.    » read more »

Justice Department Report on Use of National Security Letters Shows Continued Problems

March 13, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. – Today, the Department of Justice released its review of the FBI’s use of National Security Letters. Following the report’s release, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, sponsor of the National Security Letter Reform Act, released the following statement:    » read more »

March 3, 2008 -- THE PRESIDENT: General Wasden, thank you, sir; and General Lynch, thank you for having the Attorney General and me here to visit with the nation's Attorney Generals. I thank you very much for serving the country. I'm honored that you've stepped forward to say, I'm going to put my family in such a way that we're going to serve together. And I hope you have found the experience to be as enriching as I've found it -- my experience in public life to be.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Earlier today, Senator Obama voted in favor of the Dodd-Feingold amendment to repeal retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies (S. Amdt. 3907). He also supported other amendments to improve the bill, including the Feingold-Webb-Tester amendment to protect Americans from unwarranted surveillance (S. Amdt. 3979), and the Feingold amendment to protect Americans from the bulk collection of communications (S. Amdt. 3912).    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – FISA – is intended to protect both our national security and the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.    » read more »

(As Prepared for Delivery)

February 12, 2008 -- The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is one of our landmark statutes. For three decades, it has carefully regulated government surveillance in a way that protects both our national security and our civil liberties and prevents the government from abusing its powers. It is because FISA enhances both security and liberty that it has won broad support over the years from presidents, Congress, and the public alike.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- "Mr. President, last year Congress passed a temporary bill with a six month time limit that would give us the opportunity to carry out a thorough, thoughtful examination of how to utilize complicated new technologies in the surveillance of suspected terrorists without invading the privacy of innocent Americans. In the months since we passed that temporary act, we have worked in a bipartisan manner to consider the best course forward for permanent changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- "I believe we need to modernize our surveillance laws and give our nation’s intelligence professionals the tools they need to fight terrorism and to make our country more secure. At the same time, smart, balanced reform must also protect the rights and civil liberties of Americans. In my opinion, the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 falls short of these goals, and for that reason, I oppose the bill.    » read more »

12 February 2008 -- The U.S. Senate Tuesday voted to renew a controversial surveillance law set to expire at the end of the week. Lawmakers left intact a provision to shield telephone companies from lawsuits for their role in the Bush administration's wiretap program, despite opposition from many Democrats.

The Senate voted to extend a law which authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor - without warrants - telephone calls and emails between Americans and suspected terrorists overseas.    » read more »

Nebraska Ruling Brings US Closer to Ending This Inhumane Form of Execution in US

New York, February 8, 2008 – The Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling today that use of the electric chair violates the state constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment is an important step toward eliminating inherently inhumane executions in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.

Nebraska is the only state to use the electric chair as its sole method of execution; all other US death penalty jurisdictions use lethal injection.    » read more »

January 28, 2008 -- “The Senate today rejected the tactics of obstructionism and delay employed by the Republican minority and the White House. In refusing to allow the entire Senate the opportunity to openly and fairly debate the important issue of amending our surveillance laws, Republicans have brought to a screeching halt the Senate’s extensive efforts over the last several months to protect this country and the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans.    » read more »

January 28, 2008 -- Washington, DC – “Today, I will vote against Republican efforts to shortchange the debate on the FISA Amendments Act, important legislation that would modernize our surveillance laws and give our nation's intelligence professionals the tools they need to fight terrorism and make our country more secure.    » read more »