FCNL: Rights and Liberties Weekly (10/03/05)

[Guest guest]

FCNL Rights and Liberties Weekly

Volume 3, No. 4

October 3, 2005

 

 

Immigration: This summer a court order compelled the Department of Justice to

release a secret memo pronouncing authority for local and state police to

enforce civil immigration law. Despite continued displeasure with such measures

from state law enforcement officials, some members of Congress continue efforts

to bring state and local officials into civil immigration enforcement. More

information on this unfolding story can be found on FCNL’s web site:

 

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1549 & issue_id=69

 

Patriot Act: The next few days present what is very likely the last opportunity

to have an impact on the final language of the USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization

measures. We understand that majority staff have started private meetings to

reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill. The meetings among the

conference committee members may not happen until October 17, but most aspects

of the deal could well be in place before then. For more information, see FCNL’s

web site:

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=68

 

Durbin Kudos to Librarians: For Sen. Durbin’s salute to librarians’ contribution

to defending the Constitution and leading the effort to reform the USA PATRIOT

Act, see:

 

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r109:1:./temp/~r109JxOBj6::

 

Academic Freedom: The 1994 " Solomon Amendment " is being challenged in the

Supreme Court in December. That legislation stipulates that a university’s

federal funding depends on students having equal access to military recruitment

and punishes schools which deny military recruiters’ access. The military’s

" don’t ask don’t tell " policy violates many schools’ anti-discrimination policy,

and the Supreme Court will address this conflict.

 

http://www.aaup.org/newsroom/Solomonpr.htm

 

See also:

 

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=15840; and

 

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=15207

 

Torture: Pressure is mounting for an independent Prisoner Abuse Commission

modeled after the 9/11 Commission. Sen. Carl Levin (MI) has introduced an

amendment to the Defense Department’s authorization bill. This is a measure

independent from the McCain amendment, requiring enforcement of the Army Field

Manual standards for interrogation techniques, featured in last week’s Rights

and Liberties Weekly.

 

http://truthout.org/docs_2005/092805I.shtml

 

Secrecy: The 2005 Secrecy Report Card is out from OpenTheGovernment.org. This

accessible graphic-filled report indexes several important trends of government

secrecy, including an incomplete and ever-growing list of unclassified but

restricted designations for various types of information. This is a new, more

updated independent report than the Waxman report previously featured on this

page.

 

http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SRC2005.pdf

 

Free _Expression Books: The First Amendment Center’s web site has a " library

page " with lists of books relating to freedom of _expression and freedom of

religion. The new books section contains links to reviews of recent titles as

well as new titles just out this year.

 

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/faclibrary/index.aspx

 

The Constitution and the Court: Just off the press: Supreme Court Justice

Stephen Bryer’s new book responding to original intent theorists, entitled

Active Liberty: Interpreting our Democratic Constitution (ISBN: 0307263134).

Find more information and a synopses at Powells.com:

 

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-0307263134-0

 

Torture: In response to increasing evidence of wide-spread prisoner and detainee

abuse, the U.S. Army has issued a new interim field manual. The new manual

defines the command structure and discusses " the flow of detainees " at each

level of command, clarifying those responsible for the care of detainees. Find

the manual here:

 

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-0307263134-0

 

 

 

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FCNL’s Rights and Liberties Weekly is intended as a supplement to other FCNL

Civil Liberties and Human Rights Program materials and does not reflect FCNL's

complete policy position on any issue, nor does it include all pertinent facts

on any topic. For more information, please contact:

 

Friends Committee on National Legislation

245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795

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" When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have

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Jimi Hendrix