The Defense Department has confirmed that U.S. Marines detained a civilian—reportedly an Army veteran who crossed a yellow tape boundary on his way to a Department of Veterans Affairs office. This is an apparent violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. 1/16 reuters.com/world/us/us-ma… The Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) bars federal armed forces from directly participating in law enforcement activities unless “expressly authorized” by statute or by the Constitution. It’s a critical protection for individual liberty and democracy. 2/16

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring Trump to return control of the National Guard to CA Governor Newsom. The order is accompanied by a powerful opinion that affirms the rule of law, separation of powers, and the First Amendment. 1/23 U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer found that CA is likely to succeed on the merits of some of its claims, which is the first and often most important criterion for issuing a TRO. To start, the law Trump relied on to federalize the Guard didn’t give him that authority. 2/23

Trump has federalized at least 2,000 National Guard forces and reportedly plans to deploy troops to Los Angeles over Governor Newsom’s objections. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1965 that a president has sent troops into a state without a state request. 1/19 That’s alarming enough. But Trump has also authorized deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE are occurring or are likely to occur, even if they are entirely peaceful. That is unprecedented and a clear abuse of the law. 2/19

Yesterday the Brennan Center filed an amicus brief in support of four companies that challenged Trump’s imposition of worldwide tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). 1/15 brennancenter.org/our-work/court… Trump imposed the tariffs by declaring a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act (NEA), which gives him access to standby powers contained in 150 different provisions of law, including IEEPA. 2/15 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…

What’s this new executive order directing the Defense Department to take over huge swaths of public land on the border? Simple: it’s yet another abuse of emergency powers—this one seemingly designed to make an end-run around the Posse Comitatus Act. 1/17 whitehouse.gov/presidential-a… Listing all of Trump’s abuses of emergency powers thus far would make this thread far too long. But the country is still reeling from the latest one: emergency tariffs imposed on every country in the world, including islands inhabited primarily by penguins. 2/17

To get around the normal legal process for imposing tariffs on Canada & Mexico, Trump declared national emergencies and invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Another day, another executive action, another abuse of power. 1/15 IEEPA is available only to address an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to our “national security, foreign policy, or economy.” So Trump declared that Canada… the country he has mocked as the 51st state… poses an unusual and extraordinary threat to our national security. 2/15

The Trump administration seems to be gearing up to defy a court order, with JD Vance tweeting this morning: “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” The battle lines for our democracy have been drawn. 1/9 As anyone who has had an introductory civics class knows, if a president disagrees w/ a court order, the remedy is to appeal. There’s a reason Trump & co. don’t like that option: they know their actions are illegal & many will be rejected even by Trump’s own SCOTUS justices. 2/9

This one is not getting enough attention. At least on its face, it seems to be directing NORTHCOM (through the Secretary of Defense) to develop a military campaign to “repel” the “invasion” resulting from “unlawful mass migration.” 1/10 whitehouse.gov/presidential-a… NORTHCOM is the combatant command for the North American continent. It executes both homeland defense and civil support missions… but the executive order doesn’t say anything about civil support, nor does it mention DHS (which would be receiving the support). 2/10

URGENT: Please call Senator Graham’s office (202-224-5972) *today* and demand that Section 1202 of the intelligence authorization bill, which will rein in a truly terrifying surveillance authority, be KEPT IN the bill. 1/17 When Congress reauthorized Section 702 in April, it included what @RonWyden called “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history.” I wrote about that expansion here: 2/17 thehill.com/opinion/techno…

It’s over (for now). A majority of senators caved to the fearmongering and bush league tactics of the administration and surveillance hawks in Congress, and they sold out Americans’ civil liberties. Section 702 has been reauthorized, not just without any meaningful reforms… 1/10 …but with “one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history,” as @RonWyden aptly described it. It is nothing short of mind-boggling that 58 senators voted to keep this Orwellian power in the bill. 2/10

THANK YOU to the *thousands* of you who have made calls—WE NEED TO KEEP THEM COMING! Call 202-899-8938 to be connected to your Senators & urge them to vote “NO” on RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to act as NSA spies. 1/6 The administration and intelligence officials will put ENORMOUS pressure on Senators today to just swallow this terrible bill, because otherwise Section 702 will lapse at the end of the day. We need to make sure they’re feeling just as much pressure FROM US. 2/6

THERE WILL BE SENATE VOTES ON SECTION 702 TODAY. Please call this number (202-899-8938) ASAP to be connected to your Senators and urge them to vote “NO” on RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. 1/9 For more background on this provision, see my op-ed in the Hill yesterday…2/9 thehill.com/opinion/techno…

URGENT: PLEASE KEEP THE CALLS COMING! Call this number (202-899-8938) ASAP to be connected to your Senators and urge them NOT to pass RISAA, which contains a “terrifying” provision (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. 1/12 For more background on this provision, see my tweet thread from yesterday. The top line is that it would allow the NSA to compel a huge range of U.S. business and individuals to serve as surrogate spies. 2/12

https://twitter.com/LizaGoitein/status/1779885123363635572

URGENT: Please read thread below. We have just days to convince the Senate NOT to pass a “terrifying” law (@RonWyden) that will force U.S. businesses to serve as NSA spies. CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW using this call tool (click below or call 202-899-8938). 1/25 act.demandprogress.org/call/no-on-sec… Buried in the Section 702 reauthorization bill (RISAA) passed by the House on Friday is the biggest expansion of domestic surveillance since the Patriot Act. Senator Wyden calls this power “terrifying,” and he’s right. 2/25

https://twitter.com/RonWyden/status/1778864936573100445

I’m sad—and frankly baffled—to report that the House voted today to reward the government’s widespread abuses of Section 702 by massively expanding the government’s powers to conduct warrantless surveillance. 1/14 The amendment to require the gov’t to obtain a warrant to search Section 702 data for Americans’ communications failed by an achingly close vote of 212-212, following some truly shameless misrepresentations about the amendment from @MikeTurnerOH, the White House, & others. 2/14

The House will vote on Section 702 TOMORROW MORNING. If you think warrantless surveillance should be reined in rather than massively expanded, PLEASE USE THIS CALL TOOL ASAP (click below or call 202-899-8938) & leave a message if you get VM. 1/21 act.demandprogress.org/call/no-on-sec… The base bill is the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA). As the @BrennanCenter has explained, this bill would do nothing to prevent abuses of Section 702, and it would actually weaken the FISA Court’s oversight of surveillance. 2/21 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…

The House just voted against the rule that would have brought Section 702 legislation to the floor tomorrow. This puts Section 702 itself in jeopardy—something that could easily have been avoided if surveillance hawks were willing to entertain reasonable reforms. 1/17 The purpose of 702 is to collect intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad; that is where its value overwhelmingly lies. But the gov’t uses it to spy on Americans through “backdoor searches,” a practice that undermines the 4th Amendment and has scant national security value. 2/17

Buried in the Section 702 reauthorization bill that the House will consider this week (RISAA) is a provision that could result in the *permanent* reauthorization of this deeply-flawed authority—without a single reform. 1/11 Here’s how. FISA currently includes a sunset date of April 19 for all of Title VII of FISA. Title VII includes Section 702, but it also includes other provisions (Sections 703, 704, and 705) that contain vital protections for Americans located outside the United States. 2/11

.@SpeakerJohnson has caved to the House Intelligence Committee’s bush league tactics and will block votes on a key reform when Section 702 reauthorization goes to the House floor this week. 1/12 politico.com/newsletters/pl… The base bill that the House will consider—the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA)—contains no meaningful reforms. In fact, the bill would actually weaken the FISA Court’s oversight of surveillance. 2/12 brennancenter.org/our-work/resea…

If you care about the First Amendment, please stop everything and read this @WIRED article. Tl;dr: House intelligence committee (HPSCI) members are blocking reforms to FISA Section 702 *because they want the FBI to spy on American protesters.* 1/20 wired.com/story/hpsci-us… A bit of background (skip to tweet 10 if you’re up to speed on 702!): Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance and therefore can only be targeted at foreigners overseas. But it inevitably sweeps in enormous volumes of Americans’ communications. 2/20

Yesterday, I tweeted about how House intelligence committee leaders (HPSCI) scuttled a floor vote on Section 702 rather than allow members to enact reforms. That’s bad behavior, even by Congress’s standards. It turns out it was worse than I thought. 1/13

https://twitter.com/LizaGoitein/status/1757903781868564607

In what may seem like unrelated news (bear with me, I will get back to 702!), HPSCI Chairman Mike Turner caused a near-panic this week when he called for a secret session of Congress to share classified information about a “destabilizing foreign military capability”… 2/13