Working to make the promise of the Bill of Rights a reality.
Welcome to Defending Rights & Dissent
Join the grassroots movement to fulfill the promise of the Bill of Rights for everyone. Together, we can make police and intelligence agencies accountable to we the people whom they serve. It’s time to convert your concern and outrage into political action. Let’s do this.
Dissent NewsWire
House Rejects Amendment to Curb NSA Surveillance
Under so-called “backdoor searches,” agencies, including the FBI and DEA, search these communications without ever obtaining a warrant.
Water Protector Legal Collective Report Condemns Government Treatment of Native Protesters
The report documents illegal treatment of water protectors by law enforcement and courts. It charges this conduct as violations of constitutional and human rights law. The report calls for government accountability and drastic changes in U.S. practices towards Indigenous environmental protectors and their supporters.
Trump Lacks Legal Authority to Attack Iran
According to the New York Times, President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Iran yesterday, only to call it off at the last minute. Only Congress, not the President, has the authority to initiate such a military action. Trump’s attack would have been illegal and unconstitutional.
DC Takes on FBI Spying on Black and Muslim Activism & Communities
Activists gathered at the David A Clarke School of Law in Washington, DC to discuss FBI surveillance and infiltration of Black and Muslim activism and communities, and to develop a strategic plan to expose and bring an end to the worst FBI abuses.
Supreme Court’s Refusal to Hear Guantanamo “Forever Prisoner’s” Appeal Highlights Need to Repeal AUMF
In an upcoming minibus bill, a longtime opponent of the AUMF, Barbara Lee, has introduced an amendment to repeal the AUMF. A major step toward ending endless wars and forcing the issue of the “forever prisoners” would be repealing.
Texas Gov. Signs Bill to Impose Severe Penalties on Peaceful Protest
“It was harder than it needed to be to convince our lawmakers that someone chaining themselves to a tree at a pipeline construction site is not the same as destroying a pipeline.”
“War is a racket. It always has been,” Smedley Butler
A highly decorated war hero exposed the reality of US war and imperialism.
States Push Anti-Protest Bills In Response to Teachers’ Strikes
Throughout the states that saw major teacher strikes, retaliation has come in the form of threatening freedom of speech, assembly, and association. The goal of many of the laws are not only to make striking illegal, but to use the very communities that teachers struck for as political fodder.
Yes we do want it all! 5 bills to improve police accountability & transparency in New York state.
An energized coalition in New York state is fighting to pass a series of reform bills that together will improve police accountability and transparency across the state.
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act threatens press freedom
On Wednesday June 5, a panel was held titled “Conspiracy to Hack: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Free Speech, and Data Journalism”. The panel discussed theFirst Amendment implications of theComputer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in light of the recent… [Read More]