John Whitehead: The Attack on Civil Liberties in the Age of COVID-19

In an exclusive for MintPress, constitutional attorney John Whitehead warns that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to bring the American Police State out into the open on a scale we’ve not seen before.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
coronavirus civil liberties Feature photo

You can always count on the government to take advantage of a crisis, legitimate or manufactured. This coronavirus pandemic is no exception. Not only are the federal and state governments unraveling the constitutional fabric of the nation with lockdown mandates that are sending the economy into a tailspin and wreaking havoc with our

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The Constitution Is Not Neutral: Courts of Justice Should Not Act Like Courts of Order

As the events of recent years have made clear, neither the president, nor the legislatures, nor the courts will save us from the police state that holds us in its clutches.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
A child stands next to a protester representing the Statue of Liberty Trump's Muslim ban on June 26, 2018, in New York. Civil rights organizations, expressed outrage and disappointment at the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold President Donald Trump's ban. Andres Kudacki | AP

For those still deluded enough to believe they’re living the American dream—where the government represents the people, where the people are equal in the eyes of the law, where the courts are arbiters of justice, where the police are keepers of the peace, and where the law is applied equally as a means of protecting the rights of the people—it’s

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‘Corroding Civil Liberties,’ Supreme Court Codifies Unlawful Police Stops

“This case tells everyone…that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the dissent

Nadia Prupis
By Nadia Prupis
checkpoint

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that evidence recovered during illegal stops may still be used in court, if police officers conducted their searches after learning that a defendant had an outstanding arrest warrant. In a 5-3 ruling (pdf), the Supreme Court said such searches do not violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects against

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ACLU Sounds Alarm As Obama Administration Plans Quiet NSA Expansion

“Before we allow them to spread that information further in the government, we need to have a serious conversation about how to protect Americans’ information.”

Nadia Prupis
By Nadia Prupis
Homeland Security logo reflected in the eyeglasses of a cybersecurity analyst at the agency’s secretive cyber defense facility in Idaho. (AP/Mark J. Terrill)

Civil liberties advocates slammed reports on Friday that the Obama administration is poised to authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to share more of its private intercepted communications with other U.S. intelligence agencies without expanding privacy protections. "Before we allow them to spread that information further in the government,

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Congress Readies Cybersecurity Bill ‘Gutted’ Of Privacy Safeguards

Groups Cry Foul as Congress Readies ‘Super Bill of Pure Terribleness’.

Nadia Prupis
By Nadia Prupis
Homeland Security logo

Close to 20 civil liberties organizations on Wednesday issued a letter urging U.S. lawmakers to oppose a controversial surveillance bill after the release of its final text revealed any previous privacy protections from prior drafts had been "gutted." "The final version of this bill is an insult to the public and puts all of us in greater danger

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UK’s Approach To Spotting Terrorism: You Might Be A Terrorist If…

The U.K.’s spot the terrorist approach has the potential to criminalize political activists and campaigners.

Michaela Whitton | AntiMedia
By Michaela Whitton | AntiMedia
A group of London's Metropolitan Police force in uniform. (Flickr / Ramon Rosati)

The creeping use of counter-terrorism policies in Britain to clamp down on civil liberties appears to be relying on a number of flawed assumptions. Not content with the stigmatizing of Muslim communities, the U.K.’s spot the terrorist approach also has the potential to criminalise political activists and campaigners by labelling them with

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