Civil liberties headlines for October 23, 2008

From free speech to gun rights, below are news headlines involving outrages, developments and occasional victories that may be of interest to people who care about personal liberty, all gathered in one place.

Democratic Senator Tells Conservative Radio Station He'd Re-impose Fairness Doctrine
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) while being interviewed on a conservative talk radio station Tuesday, said he hopes a new administration and Congress will re-impose the Fairness Doctrine, which would control political content, on radio and TV broadcasters.

Bush's boudoir eavesdroppers
Two Senate committees, the Army, and the National Security Agency are investigating allegations by two former military intelligence officers that the NSA regularly listened in on the calls of US military personnel, aid workers, and journalists in Iraq.

EFF Challenges Wiretapping Law
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the latest organization to challenge the constitutionality of the eavesdropping law enacted last summer that granted retroactive immunity to telecoms, reports eWEEK.

Guyana moves to monitor all telephone and cell phone use
Guyana's parliament has passed two controversial bills that would authorize wiretapping and force cell-phone providers to register clients as part of a push to fight crime.

Mesa raid was abuse of power
When 60 armed law-enforcement officers with automatic weapons, police dogs and masks storm any facility at 2 a.m., any reasonable person would expect an entire drug cartel had been taken down. However, when such force is deployed to overtake Mesa City Hall it is clear that this has nothing to do with reason, nor enforcement of the law.

ACLU: Border Patrol Checkpoints 'Unconstitutional'
The American Civil Liberties Union is speaking out against Border Patrol checkpoints. The ACLU says the government is abusing its power to stop and search you at checkpoints within 100-miles of the U.S land and coastal borders.

Rice Visits Mexico for a Meeting About Its Drug War
The Bush administration signaled its alarm about Mexico’s U.S.-backed drug prohibition by sending the American secretary of state on Wednesday to a two-day meeting on improving cross-border cooperation in the battle against the country’s powerful drug cartels.

Activists call checkpoints unfair
Civil and immigrant rights advocates on Wednesday decried the increased use of law enforcement checkpoints around the county. Also on Wednesday, Oceanside police blocked a major artery into one of the city's predominantly Latino neighborhoods in an attempt to catch unlicensed drivers.

Police say DUI checks to rise
Escondido police say they plan to increase the number of DUI checkpoints in the city over the next year. The department plans to conduct 12 DUI checkpoints during the next 12 months – an increase of three over the past two years, when it set up nine each year.

Local law enforcement officials oppose proposal to allow open-carry firearms
Three local law enforcement officials are joining with others to oppose a Midwest City man’s attempt to pass an “open carry” law in Oklahoma.

Victorville’s eminent domain threatens business
Eagle Mobile Home Center has managed to plow ahead, selling six homes so far this month, in a struggling housing market. One threat the 11-year-old company can’t shake is Victorville’s decision to take its land.

U.S. justices hear Utah search case
When a drug dealer opens his door to an undercover informant or police officer, does the dealer also invite the rest of the department inside? The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a Utah search and seizure case that could decide just that.

Long Island Woman's Strip Search Suit Can Move Forward
A federal appeals court ruled October 8 that a Long Island, New York, woman's rights were violated when police strip searched her in a room with a video camera after finding a marijuana stem in the vehicle she was driving. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the $1 million lawsuit filed three years ago by Stacey Hartline against the Village of Southampton and four of its police officers. 

Contact J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com