The FCNL article gives visitors to the site the data on which Senators and members of the House voted for and against legislation referring to warrantless wiretapping. "Senate condones warrantless spying program," the headline reads, and the story outlines the 68-29 Senate vote that basically grants "blanket immunity to phone companies that broke the law" by allowing the Bush Administration to have access to private phone records as part of the "war on terrorism." The House, meanwhile, passed a bill 213-197, that "restores court oversight to the government spying program" and also holds the big telecommunications companies (Verizon, att, etc.) accountable for handing over the private phone records to the government without a warrant that requires them to do so.
The FCNL site quotes from the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
Other issues that the FCNL site covers with regard to civil liberties include the latest immigration bill "SAVE Act (HR 4088), which would place all citizens "at risk" by instituting an "employment verification system" relying on databases that have an "unacceptably high error rate." HR 4088 would also "dramatically expand detention space" for illegals and would allow the detention of children. It would embrace the "militarization" of the border, which is not a good idea, according to FCNL; what should be done in terms of civil liberties, is to offer "solutions for the millions of undocumented people" and one of those solutions is to create a "viable path to citizenship."
THE LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE: This site (courtesy of Cornell University Law School) is far more about law and specific aspects of federal and state laws than the other two sites. And though it has a large treasure trove of information about civil liberties-related legislation and law, it does not act as an advocate as the first two sites do. Under the topic, "Law About..." The LII site offers "state statues by topic," "federal statures by topic," commerce,
Under "Directories" there are links to all of the main law journals, legal academia, and links to lawyers and organizations. The section called "Supreme Court collection" starts with "Most Recent Decisions" - cases that were argued as recently as March 28, 2008 and seceded April 16, 2008. One of those cases was Baze ET AL v. Rees, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections, et al. This was the "lethal injection" case in which the Court ruled that lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Under "Topics for Particular Groups" LII offers "civil rights" - an overview of the history of civil rights under the Constitution. Indeed, Congress amended Title 42 of the Equal Rights Under the Law (1985) provision, making it illegal for anyone to engage in a "Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights." Part of that law prevents two or more persons in any state from disguising themselves on the highway or elsewhere for the purposes of depriving others from the equal protection of the law.
Works Cited
American Civil Liberties Union. (2008). "Become a Card-Carrying Member of the ACLU."
Retrieved April 19, 2008, at http://www.aclu.org.
Friends Committee on National Legislation. (2008). "A Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest."
Retrieved April 18, 2008, at http://fcnl.org/index.htm.
Legal Information Institute. (2008). "Welcome to the LII." Cornell University Law School.
Retrieved April 19, 2008, at http://www.law.cornell.edu.
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