In a move that undermines civil liberties and the rule of law, the Obama administration today announced that it will prosecute the suspects accused of planning the 9/11 attacks in the Guantanamo military commissions system.

In a huge victory for privacy and the rule of law, a federal appeals court today reinstated a landmark lawsuit challenging an unconstitutional government spying law. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in July 2008 to stop the government from conducting surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), a statute that gives the executive branch virtually unchecked power to collect Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit in state court challenging the New York State Department of Labor’s warrantless planting of a GPS tracking device on an employee’s personal car. The device, planted as part of an investigation into workplace misconduct, tracked the whereabouts of 30-year Department of Labor employee Michael Cunningham and his family for at least a month, including during evenings, weekends and while the family went on vacation out of state.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) have filed a petition in New York State Court asking the Court to order the New York Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) to perform its duty to investigate a complaint of professional misconduct against Dr. John Francis Leso, who, as asserted in the complaint, violated professional standards when he designed and participated in the abusive interrogation program at Guantánamo.

The Central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union and partners in the United as One Coalition today called on the Syracuse Common Council to postpone a scheduled vote on proposals to install 24-hour police surveillance cameras in two city neighborhoods until it addresses concerns about privacy and transparency.

At a public hearing in Syracuse this evening, the Central New York Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union will urge the city’s Common Council to initiate a formal public review process before moving to install a 24-hour video surveillance system in the Near West Side neighborhood.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) today filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) policy permitting border agents to search, copy and detain travelers’ electronic devices at the border without reasonable suspicion.

The FBI has partially lifted a gag it imposed on American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union client Nicholas Merrill in 2004 that prevented him from disclosing to anyone that he received a national security letter (NSL) demanding private customer records. Merrill, who received the NSL as the president of an Internet service provider (ISP), can now reveal his identity and speak about his experience for the first time since receiving the NSL.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today asked FBI offices in New York City, Albany and Buffalo to turn over records related to the agency’s collection and use of race and ethnicity data in neighborhoods across New York State.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union sued the government today for the release of documents about the implementation of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA), an unconstitutional spying law that gives the executive branch virtually unchecked power to collect Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls in dragnet fashion, without a warrant and without suspicion of wrongdoing.