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For Immediate Release
September, 22 2010, 04:20pm EDT
Wednesday September, 22 2010, 04:20pm EDT
Contact:
Rachel Myers, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org
ACLU in Federal Appeals Court Thursday to Argue for Release of Guantanamo Detainee Statements
Tribunal Transcripts Would Provide Critical Testimony About Bush Torture Program
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union will be in court Thursday to argue that the government should release transcripts in which 14 prisoners now held at Guantanamo Bay describe abuse and torture suffered in CIA custody.
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to obtain uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals used to determine if Guantanamo detainees qualify as "enemy combatants." In October, a federal court ruled that the government can continue to suppress the detainees' testimony about the abuse they suffered in CIA custody. The ACLU is asking the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse that decision.
More information about the case is available online at: www.aclu.org/national-security/csrt-foia
WHAT:
Oral arguments in American Civil Liberties Union v. DOD, a FOIA lawsuit seeking the release of transcripts from Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunals
WHO:
Ben Wizner of the ACLU National Security Project will argue the case. Other attorneys on the case are Jameel Jaffer, ACLU Deputy Legal Director, Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and Arthur B. Spitzer of the ACLU of the National Capital Area.
WHEN:
Thursday, September 23, 2010
9:30 a.m. EDT
WHERE:
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
333 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Amid Deregulatory Blitz, Trump Quietly Deletes Key Public Comment Tool
"It's clear that Trump doesn't want the public weighing in on these dangerous deregulatory initiatives," said Katie Tracy of Public Citizen.
Aug 19, 2025
The Trump administration has made it more difficult for consumers, advocacy groups, and small business owners to raise complaints about bad regulations.
On Friday, the General Services Administration—an independent agency that supports the functioning of the government bureaucracy—quietly eliminated a tool known as the POST Application Programming Interface (API) from the Regulations.gov website.
Last Monday, organizations that had previously used the POST system received an email from GSA informing them that "as of Friday, the POST method will no longer be allowed for all users with the exception of approved use cases by federal agencies."
As tech reporter Matthew Gault explained on Friday for 404 Media, which first obtained the email:
POST allowed third-party organizations like Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public Citizen to gather comments from their supporters using their own forms and submit them to the government later.
Regulations.gov has been instrumental as a method for people to speak up against terrible government regulations. During the fight over Net Neutrality in 2017, FFTF gathered more than 1.6 million comments about the pending rule and submitted them all to the FCC in one day by POSTing to the API.
While it is still possible to lodge complaints through the website, Katie Tracy, senior regulatory policy advocate at Public Citizen, says that "the tool offered an easier means for the public to provide input by allowing organizations to collect and submit comments on their behalf."
"Now," Tracy says, "those interested in submitting comments will be forced to navigate the arduous and complicated system on Regulations.gov."
Gault put it more plainly: "The site's user interface sucks. Users have to track down the pending regulation they want to comment on by name or docket number, click the 'comment' button, and then fill out a form, attach a file, provide an email address, provide some personal details, and fight a CAPTCHA."
The GSA has not provided any rationale for why it decided to eliminate the POST system. But Tracy says that making the reporting process more cumbersome is no accident.
"Notice and comment is one of the few opportunities most Americans and small businesses have to shape regulations by telling agency officials how proposed rules benefit or hurt them," Tracy said. "This decision hurts individuals and small businesses–and rewards major corporations and their lobbyists who play the inside game to influence policies outside of the notice and comment process."
"This decision is especially significant amid the Trump administration's efforts to curtail public participation and slash hundreds of safeguards that guarantee clean air and drinking water, safe consumer products, and prevent predatory lending and bank fraud," Tracy added. "It's clear that Trump doesn't want the public weighing in on these dangerous deregulatory initiatives."
Mamdani Pounces as Leaked Audio Shows Cuomo 'Expecting Trump's Help' to Win
"Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani... and you'll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that," Cuomo said in a leaked recording.
Aug 19, 2025
Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday pounced on a report about top rival, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying that he expects US President Donald Trump will help him win in the coming general election.
Politico obtained a leaked audio recording of Cuomo speaking at a fundraiser in the Hamptons over the weekend in which he expressed confidence that Trump and other Republicans would send signals to their voters that they should back him instead of Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
"Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani... and you'll be wasting your vote on Sliwa," Cuomo said, according to Politico. "So I feel good about that."
During the fundraiser, Cuomo also suggested that he would have a better relationship with the president than Mamdani, and that there would be opportunities for the two of them to work together.
"Let's put it this way: I knew the president very well," Cuomo said. "I believe there's a big piece of him that actually wants redemption in New York. He feels that he was rejected by New York. We voted for Hillary Clinton. Bill de Blasio took his name off things. So I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he's not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it."
Shortly after Politico's report was published, Mamdani fired off social media posts condemning his rival for welcoming the help of a president whose far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-free speech agenda has threatened the city he wants to lead.
"At (another) Hamptons fundraiser with Republican donors on Saturday, Andrew Cuomo said it plainly: He's expecting Trump's help to defeat us in November," wrote Mamdani. "'I feel good about that,' Cuomo said. New Yorkers won't."
Mamdani then pointed to an earlier report from The New York Times that detailed a call that Cuomo had with Trump about the mayoral race.
"Now we're seeing the results of that collaboration," Mamdani remarked. "But as we showed in the primary, our hustle can defeat their money. Let's get organized and win even bigger. Eleven more weeks."
A spokesman for Cuomo insisted that the former New York governor wasn't seeking Trump's assistance in the race despite openly discussing it at a private fundraiser.
"We're not asking for or expecting help from anyone," he told Politico. "Governor Cuomo is the only chance to beat Mamdani and ensure the greatest city in the world stays the greatest city in the world."
Mamdani is centering the city's affordability crisis in his campaign and has pledged to implement fare-free buses, universal free childcare, a network of city-run grocery stores, and a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments. Cuomo and other centrist Democrats have sought to portray Mamdani as "unrealistic" and have attacked his support for Palestinian rights—but the attacks have been unsuccessful thus far, with the state assembly member winning the Democratic primary in June by a significant margin.
Polling from the general election has shown Mamdani with a hefty lead over his rivals in a four-way race that includes Cuomo, Sliwa, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. However, the same polling also shows that advantage narrows significantly should Sliwa and Adams exit the race.
'Essentially Kidnapping': Texas Democrat Barred From Leaving Capitol Building Without Escort
"Locking Rep. Nicole Collier inside the chamber is beyond outrageous," said Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. "Forcing elected officials to sign 'permission slips' and take police escorts to leave? That's not procedure. That's some old Jim Crow playbook. Texas Republicans have lost their damn minds."
Aug 19, 2025
Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier was forced to spend the night Monday inside the Texas State Capitol building in Austin after she refused to sign a "permission slip" to accept the mandatory escort by the Department of Public Safety imposed on Democrats by the Republicans who control the chamber.
Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced the restrictions on members of the Democratic caucus earlier in the day after Democrats returned after a two-week hiatus out of state to prevent quorum in the House as a way to block a controversial mid-decade redistricting effort by the GOP that aims to hand the party up to five more seats in midterm congressional elections next year as a favor to President Donald Trump.
CNN reports that a majority of the Democrats in the caucus "complied with the law enforcement escort, showing reporters what they called 'permission slips' they received to leave the House floor and pointing to the officers escorting them around the Capitol."
"I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination." —Democratic Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier
But not Collier, who represents the Fort Worth area in District 95.
"I refuse to sign. I will not agree to be in DPS custody," Collier said. "I'm not a criminal. I am exercising my right to resist and oppose the decisions of our government. So this is my form of protest."
In a video posted Monday night from inside the chamber, Collier explained why she refused to sign for the escort and lashed out at her Republican colleagues for their continued assault on the rule of law.
We are beyond proud of Fort Worth State Rep. Nicole Collier for standing up to ridiculous GOP bullying! @NicoleCollier95 Full talk: https://t.co/vQiRYxFuvW pic.twitter.com/YkECPvGc3u
— Progress Texas (@ProgressTX) August 19, 2025
"My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights," said Collier in the video. "I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts. My community is majority-minority, and they expect me to stand up for their representation. When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents—I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination."
Fellow Democrats, both inside and beyond Texas, championed Collier's stand and condemned the GOP for their latest authoritarian stunt.
"In the face of fascism, [Rep.] Nicole Collier is a hero," said state Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos (D-102), chair of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus.
Seth Harp, a Democrat running for Congress in Florida this cycle, accused Texas Republicans of "just absolutely destroying the 4th amendment," which bars unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. "It's essentially kidnapping and taking a hostage," Harp added.
"Hey GOP," he asked, "exactly how much do you hate the Constitution?"
Rep. Jasmine Crocket (D-Texas), who previously served in the state's legislature, also condemned the move by Burrows and his fellow Republicans.
"Let me be clear: LOCKING Rep. Nicole Collier inside the chamber is beyond outrageous," Crockett declared in a social media post Monday evening.
"Forcing elected officials to sign 'permission slips' and take police escorts to leave? That's not procedure," she said. "That's some old Jim Crow playbook. Texas Republicans have lost their damn minds."
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