Supreme Court Unseals Documents in Patriot Act Case
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Government Previously Ordered ACLU to Censor Phrases
Like "Cat is out of the Bag"
> See the Newly Released Justice Ginsburg Opinion
> Read the Entire Opinion (PDF)
WASHINGTON — Following a Supreme Court order, the American Civil Liberties Union today released legal documents that were previously sealed by the government and the courts during a legal battle over a controversial Patriot Act power.
With the help of the ACLU, Library Connection in Connecticut successfully fought against the FBI's use of a "National Security Letter" to demand patron records without a court order. The government had gagged Library Connection from identifying itself as an NSL recipient even after its identity was revealed by the New York Times. When the ACLU sought an emergency order from the Supreme Court to lift the gag last October, the government required all the court documents to be filed under seal. Those documents, available for the first time today, included copies of New York Times articles and phrases such as "the genie is out of the bottle" and "the cat is out of the bag."
"The documents unsealed today show the absurdity of the government's insistence that the Library Connection staff could not speak out even after the government's negligence revealed that they were the John Doe plaintiffs," said Ann Beeson, ACLU Associate Legal Director and lead counsel in this case. "The government's shameful cries of ‘national security' to hide its actions from the public is an abuse of power that only makes America less safe and less free."
Among the documents unsealed today is a portion of the Connecticut district court opinion rejecting the government's argument, based on secret evidence, to justify the gag on Library Connection's identity even before it was revealed by the New York Times. In the sealed portion, U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall reasoned that revealing the identity of Library Connection would pose no harm to national security because "the universe of people who could be the subject" of the NSL "would likely be in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands."
Today's documents also include previously sealed portions of Justice Ginsburg's opinion denying Library Connection's emergency motion to lift the gag. In the portion released today, Justice Ginsburg wrote, "through inadvertence, Doe's identity has been publicly available for several days on the District Court's Web site and … the parties also learned that the media had correctly reported Doe's identity on at least one occasion."
Likewise, the documents show that the government censored direct quotes from previous Supreme Court cases cited in the ACLU's legal papers. The cases held that the government cannot prevent the publication of information once it is disclosed to the public. Even clichés proved too dangerous to be revealed in the government's view. Phrases like "Once the cat is out of the bag, the ballgame is over" and "the genie is out of the bottle" were also sealed.
"As an American, I am embarrassed that our government would go to such extremes to stifle free and open debate and keep non- sensitive information from the public," said George Christian, Executive Director of the Library Connection. "It undermines trust the public has in libraries when government agents can force librarians to turn over private patron information without any kind of court order or evidence of wrongdoing."
The government refused to lift the gag on the Library Connection while Congress debated changes to the Patriot Act, but abandoned their claims less than six weeks after the law was re-authorized. In a legal brief submitted as the debate raged on, the ACLU argued, "Now that John Doe's identity has been widely disseminated, the government's sole basis for the gag has wholly evaporated, and there is no conceivable further justification for employing the government's coercive powers to silence American citizens during a national political debate of historic consequence." That sentence remained censored by the government until today.
The previously sealed Supreme Court documents are now available in PDF format:
> ACLU's Emergency Application to Vacate Stay (10/03/05)
> ACLU Appendix in Support of Emergency Application to Vacate Stay (10/03/05)
> Government's Opposition to Emergency Application to Vacate Stay (10/05/05)
> ACLU Reply in Support of Emergency Application to Vacate Stay (10/06/05)
> Justice Ginsburg's Opinion (10/07/05)
Learn More About the Issues in This Press Release
-
Press ReleaseDec 2024
Free Speech
National Security
ACLU and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Block TikTok BanACLU and Partners Urge Supreme Court to Block TikTok Ban
WASHINGTON — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to block the enforcement of a law that would effectively ban people in America from using TikTok as soon as January 19, 2025. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected TikTok’s challenge to the law. TikTok has asked the Supreme Court for a temporary injunction to prevent the app from being banned while the court considers whether to take the case, saying that unless the justices intervene, the law will “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration.” “The Constitution imposes an extraordinarily high bar on this kind of mass censorship,”said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “The Supreme Court should take up this important case and protect the rights of millions of Americans to freely express themselves and engage with others around the world.” The brief argues that the D.C. Circuit failed to fully address the law’s profound implications for the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok. While the lower court’s decision correctly recognized that the statute triggers First Amendment scrutiny, it barely addressed users’ First Amendment interests in speaking, sharing, and receiving information on the platform. The court also perplexingly attempted to cast the government’s ban on TikTok as a vindication of users’ First Amendment rights, which it is not. The rights groups also explain that the law was intended to suppress certain content and viewpoints that many legislators believe could be amplified on TikTok, including the risk of foreign “propaganda.” But under the First Amendment, the government must meet a very high bar to restrict speech based on concerns about its “motivating ideology” or “perspective,” and the government has not come close to meeting that bar here. “The government should not be able to restrict speech, especially to the extent here, based on guessing about the mere possibility of uncertain future harm,” said David Greene, civil liberties director at EFF. “The Supreme Court should put the TikTok ban on hold while it considers the DC Circuit’s erroneous ruling.” Finally, the brief underscores that the government can’t impose this type of sweeping ban unless it’s necessary to prevent extremely serious and imminent harm to national security. But the government has not provided evidence of impending harm, or evidence that banning TikTok is the only available way to address its concerns. As the brief explains, the D.C. Circuit improperly treated the government’s invocation of “national security” as a trump card and failed to hold the government to its burden. “Restricting citizens’ access to foreign media is a practice that has long been associated with repressive regimes, and we should be very wary of letting the practice take root here,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “It would do lasting damage to the First Amendment and our democracy if the Supreme Court let this ban go into effect even temporarily.” You can find the brief online here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24A587/335380/20241217144322392_24A587%20TikTok%20v%20Garland%20Amicus%20Brief%20pdfa.pdf -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
National Security
Religious Liberty
ACLU Statement on New White House Strategy to Counter IslamophobiaACLU Statement on New White House Strategy to Counter Islamophobia
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration today released the first-ever national strategy to counter Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, including hate against Arab, Sikh, and South Asian Americans. In advance of the strategy, American Civil Liberties Union and its partners had urged the administration to overhaul government programs that reflect anti-Muslim discrimination. In particular, we have called for urgent action to constrain governmental agencies from continuing to exercise their authorities and technology to wrongly surveil and investigate, watchlist, and question and detain Muslims at the border, as well as deny immigration benefits to people from Muslim-majority countries. While the White House raised expectations that many of these issues would be addressed, the final strategy ended up falling far short. The following is a statement from Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project: “While this strategy acknowledges discrimination and its harms, it does little to end them and is a squandered opportunity. For decades, American officials have invoked national security to pass laws and implement programs that disproportionately harm Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim. A serious anti-discrimination strategy would concretely address multiple bias-infused government practices that deny our communities equal participation in civic life and our democracy, like federal watchlisting, surveillance, and investigation. We’re profoundly frustrated that the administration didn’t take even the basic, overdue step of recognizing that anti-Muslim discrimination is uniquely normalized and embedded in government policies.” -
VirginiaDec 2024
National Security
Trabelsi v. Crawford, et al. – Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted ManTrabelsi v. Crawford, et al. – Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted Man
Our client, Nizar Trabelsi, is in the United States against his will. The federal government brought him here from Belgium more than a decade ago and charged him with terrorism-related crimes. At trial, the government’s case failed: a federal jury found Mr. Trabelsi not guilty. But instead of allowing Mr. Trabelsi to return to Belgium after his acquittal, the United States placed him in highly restrictive immigration detention and began an ongoing effort to force him to Tunisia, where he was born and where he will very likely be tortured. Mr. Trabelsi’s detention violates the Constitution, immigration law, and the extradition treaty between the United States and Belgium. Through this lawsuit, he seeks to return to Belgium, and he demands an immediate improvement of his detention conditions. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
National Security
Immigrants' Rights
Federal Judge Rejects Acquitted Man’s Argument That His Immigration Detention Is UnlawfulFederal Judge Rejects Acquitted Man’s Argument That His Immigration Detention Is Unlawful
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — This week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether the government can continue to detain Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national who was brought to the United States against his will for prosecution and was cleared of all charges last year. The ruling means the United States will be able to continue to detain Mr. Trabelsi while it attempts to deport him to Tunisia, where he was born and where, as an immigration judge ruled earlier this year, he will likely face torture. The court also concluded that even if it did have jurisdiction over Mr. Trabelsi’s case, his claims challenging the government’s detention of him would fail. “Reviewing claims that the government is holding someone unlawfully is at the core of the judicial function, and we’re heartbroken for our client that the court got this so wrong,” said Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Center for Democracy. “The government’s arguments in defense of Mr. Trabelsi’s detention makes a hash of the Constitution, immigration laws, and its own extradition treaty.” In 2013, the United States forcibly extradited Mr. Trabelsi from Belgium to face criminal charges in the United States. In July 2023, after almost 10 years of highly restrictive pretrial detention, a federal jury cleared Mr. Trabelsi of all charges. But instead of releasing Mr. Trabelsi or returning him to Belgium, the U.S. transferred him to immigration detention, wrongly treating him as an applicant for admission and placing him in the deportation process. Over the years, the Belgian government has issued multiple formal diplomatic requests asking the U.S. to facilitate his return, but the U.S. has refused to send him back. Mr. Trabelsi filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to detain him. He also sought immediate improvements to his detention conditions. Those claims were not part of the court’s ruling today, and will continue to be litigated on a separate track. “Mr. Trabelsi only wants to return to Belgium after being illegally extradited to the United States, held for ten years, and then acquitted by a jury of any crimes,” said Nicole Hallett, clinical professor of law and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. “He cannot be held indefinitely and we will continue to fight to make sure that justice ultimately prevails.” Mr. Trabelsi is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the University of Chicago Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, the ACLU of Virginia, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School. The complaint in Trabelsi v. Crawford was filed against Jeffrey Crawford, warden of the Farmville Detention Center where Mr. Trabelsi is being held; Liana Castano, ICE field office director for the Washington Field Office; Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general.