FCNL Rights and Liberties Weekly

Volume 3, No. 11

November 21, 2005





USA PATRIOT Act: The conference committee reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions of the USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization has been in the “last hours” of negotiations for a week. The conference report, which is much less friendly to civil liberties than the Senate version, was distributed in draft form to the conference committee. However, under intense pressure from both parties in both houses, the conferees are still in negotiations. Read the ACLU’s critique of the original conference report and an article on the past week’s developments from the Center for Democracy and Technology:

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1617&issue_id=68

http://cdt.org/publications/policyposts/2005/24



Immigration: The Immigration Policy Center’s report entitled “Economic Growth & Immigration: Bridging the Demographic Divide,” dives into the thorny relationship between low wage jobs and illegal immigration in this country. Currently the government caps visa categories for immigrants who would fill low wage jobs at a level far below what the growth of the economy demands. The executive summary and a link to the full report can be found here:

http://www.ailf.org/ipc/special_report/special_report2005_bridging.htm



Torture: Religious organizations have launched a web site to denounce the use of torture by the United States. StopTheTorture.org is led by TASSC, the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International, and Church Folks for a Better America (led by George Hunsinger of Princeton). It works to bring the voice of the faith community to bear on this important topic.

http://www.stopthetorture.org

Another web site resource on torture is “Torture is Not Us”:

http://www.tortureisnotus.org



Tips for Lobby Visits: FCNL’s new flyer of eight tips for a successful lobby visit can be found here:

http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/brochures/lobby_flyer1105.pdf



Freedom of Information: Government agencies are increasingly circumventing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) through the increasing use of the “mosaic theory.” This paper from the Yale Law Journal details how an agency evaded a FOIA disclosure by claiming that a group of unclassified documents taken together may give away classified information. Read the abstract and download the report to find out more:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=820326



Torture: PBS has filled their web page on torture with a wealth of information and streaming video of their presentation “The Torture Question.” Check it out at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/





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FCNL’s Rights and Liberties Weekly is intended as a supplement to other FCNL Civil Liberties and Human Rights Program materials and does not reflect FCNL's complete policy position on any issue, nor does it include all pertinent facts on any topic. For more information, please contact:



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