All posts tagged: warrantless

Republican Mutiny Sinks Trump’s Push to Extend Warrantless Surveillance

Republican Mutiny Sinks Trump’s Push to Extend Warrantless Surveillance

Published by skeptic

House Speaker Mike Johnson convened a vote in the dead of night on Friday, calling lawmakers back to the floor after midnight in a push to preserve a surveillance program that allows federal agents to read the communications of Americans without a warrant. Twenty Republicans broke ranks and sank it, a sharp rebuke of both Johnson and President Donald Trump, who had spent the week personally working holdouts to back the bill. The failed vote caps weeks of bipartisan resistance to a clean reauthorization of the surveillance program, authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The 702 program permits wiretaps of communications ostensibly belonging to foreigners overseas, but is also known to intercept vast amounts of Americans’ emails, texts, phone calls, and other data—private messages that the FBI and other agencies routinely access without a warrant. Congressional authorization for the program will expire on Tuesday. The White House and GOP leadership have spent weeks pressing for a “clean” reauthorization, fending off a bipartisan alliance of House Freedom Caucus Republicans and progressive Democrats …

US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

US Lawmakers Move to Kill the FBI’s Warrantless Wiretap Access

Published by skeptic

A bipartisan privacy coalition in the United States Congress introduced legislation on Thursday that would impose a strict warrant requirement on the FBI’s backdoor searches of Americans’ communications, aligning federal law with a 2025 federal court ruling that found the warrantless practice unconstitutional. The bill, the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2026, repeals controversial expansions of the government’s warrantless wiretapping authority while overhauling key aspects of federal surveillance law—setting up a showdown with the US intelligence community and its congressional allies weeks before a sweeping global spy program sunsets on April 20. Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Lee are leading the legislative push alongside Representatives Warren Davidson and Zoe Lofgren. The measure carries endorsements from civil liberties organizations across the political spectrum. The legislation arrives in a surveillance landscape fundamentally altered since 2024, when Congress last renewed the wiretap program, authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill’s sponsors framed the Government Surveillance Reform Act as a necessary corrective to a surveillance state that has been supercharged by modern technology …

ICE can’t make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there’s risk of escape, judge rules : NPR

ICE can’t make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there’s risk of escape, judge rules : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Law enforcement officers look out from a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland, Ore. Jenny Kane/AP hide caption toggle caption Jenny Kane/AP PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless there’s a likelihood of escape, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction in a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of arresting immigrants they happen to come across while conducting ramped-up enforcement operations — which critics have described as “arrest first, justify later.” The department, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not immediately comment in response to a request from The Associated Press. Similar actions, including immigration agents entering private property without a warrant issued by a court, have drawn concern from civil rights groups across the country amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Courts in Colorado and Washington, D.C., have issued rulings like Kasubhai’s, and the government has appealed them. In a memo last …

Santa Anita Park sues California Department of Justice over alleged warrantless seizure

Santa Anita Park sues California Department of Justice over alleged warrantless seizure

Published by skeptic

Just days after California police officers removed new gambling machines from Santa Anita Park, the Los Angeles Turf Club (LATC), which operates the racecourse, has filed a writ of mandate against the California Department of Justice (DOJ). It was on January 15 when the horse-racing location installed 26 new gambling machines, but they were removed by police officers from the state Department of Justice shortly after. Unsurprisingly, Santa Anita has filed suit against Rob Bonta's office for what it claims was an unconstitutional seizure of 26 HHR machines https://t.co/KRLlmkgiEn — Jessica Welman (@jesswelman) January 21, 2026 This was reported to be due to the machines being considered to be in breach of California’s exclusive tribal gaming rights laws. The raid is described, however, within the filing, to have taken place “without warning or a warrant” on January 17, 2026. In the lawsuit, which has been seen by ReadWrite, the LATC states they are seeking the return of the self-service tote terminals which were seized by the DOJ. They are also seeking a declaration prohibiting DOJ, …