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Dissent NewsWire
May 16, 2022
Defending Rights & Dissent welcomed the launch today of an Anti-Protest Lobby Tracker website created by The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). The lobby tracker was created for researchers, journalists, and citizen activists to shed light on the special interests behind
May 12, 2022
Since Politico published a sweeping draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito overturning decades of precedent concerning abortion rights, many Americans have exercised their First Amendment rights by protesting this looming decision. For the past half decade, we have
May 9, 2022
On Monday May 9, 2022, Defending Rights & Dissent urged UK Home Secretary to reject the US's extradition request for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. As US-based NGO focused on the First Amendment, it is highly unusual for us to correspond with foreign governments. However, given the extraordinary nature of Assange’s case and its implications for press freedom not just in the US, but globally, we are compelled to do so.
May 6, 2022
The leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion confirms what many have long expected: the overturning of Roe v Wade and the end of constitutionally protected safe and legal abortions in America. But if the language in the final decision
May 5, 2022
Since 2014, Defending Rights & Dissent has been organizing in local communities to oppose CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) programs. Much of that work has been as part of the national Stop CVE Coalition, founded by the Muslim Justice League. Thanks
May 4, 2022
On Friday April 29, 2022, Defending Rights & Dissent brought a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act against the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. These agencies
May 3, 2022
In an unprecedented first for journalism, Politico reported on and published a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning decades of precedent that a right to privacy protected the right to have an abortion. Since this bombshell revelation, Chief Justice John Roberts
April 27, 2022
Yesterday, it was reported that due to opposition from civil liberties groups and Congressional progressives, House Democrats have postponed a vote on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. Defending Rights & Dissent, along with the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the
April 25, 2022
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) has asked for public comments regarding privacy and civil liberties issues concerning the government’s efforts to counter domestic terrorism. On April 25, 2022, Defending Rights & Dissent submitted public comments calling attention
April 20, 2022
Earlier this morning, as expected, a UK magistrate ordered Julian Assange’s extradition to the US. This is the result of the UK Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the WikiLeaks publisher’s appeal. The extradition order will now go to UK Home
April 18, 2022
Billionaires don’t care about protecting free speech. If anything, the whole point of billionaires is to nullify your voice. Whether by pocketing lawmakers with their unlimited political donations or gobbling up legacy and new media companies, the 1% want to
April 15, 2022
Last month, the public learned that the FBI frequently fails to comply with its own rules regarding particularly sensitive investigations involving political and religious organizations, the media, and public officials. And not just minor rule-breaking, but SIGNIFICANT lapses averaging more
April 8, 2022
By now, you’ve probably at least been within the periphery of the latest faux-outrage on the right regarding something called “critical race theory,” or CRT for short. You’ve probably been assaulted by hair-on-fire headlines or cable news chyrons like: Clearly,
March 30, 2022
One wonders if the Louisiana Supreme Court would be so cavalier with matters of liability if the events of January 6 happened in the Bayou state? In a bizarre and dangerous ruling that could chill free speech rights, the state’s
March 24, 2022
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the surveillance tactics used to find an alleged bank robber were unconstitutional. Specifically, Judge M. Hannah Lauck of the Eastern District of Virginia pointed to the use of a “geo-fence