Civil Liberties in 2006

May 2006 (continued)

• In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court rules that regulation of the content of written matter produced as part of one's official job description does not violate the First Amendment. The ruling is grossly misrepresented in much of the mainstream press as one that overturns whistleblower protection statutes (it doesn't), or otherwise threatens the personal free speech rights of government employees (it doesn't).
• A House panel states that the search of the Capitol office belonging to Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) violates separation of powers. (I disagree; there is no constitutional reason why Capitol offices should be treated any differently from private offices with respect to search warrants.)

June 2006

• The U.S. Senate defeats the homophobia-based Federal Marriage Amendment.
• Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) writes a scathing letter to Vice-President Dick Cheney, condemning executive branch violations of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.

July 2006

• A coalition of U.S. women's rights groups submit a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, highlighting U.S. abuses of international human rights law, most specifically violations of women's rights.
• Sheriff Jack Strain of Louisiana's St. Tammany's Parish threatens to arrest predominantly-black New Orleans Katrina evacuees who wear "dreadlocks and chee-wee haircuts," describing such evacuees as "trash and thugs." His racially charged comments attract the attention of the ACLU and NAACP, but he refuses to apologize.

• Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz transport three dying Mexican migrants across the U.S. border for medical treatment, and are promptly arrested and charged. If convicted, they face a 15-year prison sentence.
• Michigan abortion opponents fail to generate the 317,000 signatures necessary to put an anti-abortion referendum on the state's ballot in November.

• A group of 120 human rights organizations submits a 465-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, condemning the U.S. prison system (which represents 25% of the world's incarcerated population, the highest incarceration rate on Earth).
• The U.S. House of Representatives votes to ban Internet gambling. The Senate will later follow suit, and Bush will sign a bill banning the transfer of funds from financial institutions to gambling sites except in cases of lotteries and horse races. The bill is widely condemned as a blatant attempt to pander to anti-gambling conservatives.
• An Alaska judge rules that marijuana is still legal for home use in that state.

• The U.S. House of Representatives renews the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for another 25 years. The Senate will later unanimously (98-0) approve[link] the renewal. The bill will not expire until at least 2032.
• In response to post-Katrina gun rights abuses, the U.S. Senate [link url=http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=7879]votes by an overwhelming margin (84-16) to prohibit the mass confiscation of legally-owned firearms by Homeland Security officials.

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