Outside the Beltway

The Supreme Court ruled that police are not entitled to access to a hotel registry without a warrant.

Dave Schuler proposes a “radical idea” to safeguard individual privacy “in the wake of the hacking of Sony and the multiple credit card exploits over the last year or so.”

The Senate passed a bill that renews, and modifies, the Patriot Act

Many provisions of the Patriot Act lapsed at midnight, but apparently the world hasn’t ended.

The Senate returns tomorrow to try to pass an extension of the PATRIOT Act before it expires, but it may not be able to do so.

Rand Paul held the Senate floor for nearly twelve hours yesterday to talk about the PATRIOT Act, but it’s unclear if he accomplished anything.

Fresh off an election victory, British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to propose a series of new measures to crackdown on extremism that raise serious civil liberties concerns.

Hillary Clinton told supporters she’d require Supreme Court nominees to pledge to overturn Citizens United, a decision she completely misrepresented.

The House has passed a bill that would place real restrictions on the National Security Agency’s data mining program. Now, it moves to the Senate.

A new survey shows that Americans are becoming less Christian, and less religious overall.

A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the N.S.A.’s data mining program is illegal, but its ruling may not have a very big impact.

Ted Cruz and Steve King think the Court should be prevented from hearing any case involving same-sex marriage. Because they know they’re losing.

An attack on al Qaeda outposts in January resulted in the death of two hostages, but also resulted in the death of two high value al Qaeda targets.

Ubiquitous tracking isn’t all bad.

Hillary Clinton addressed the week-long email controversy, but her explanations only raised new questions.

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

Sony is warning the press not to publish material leaked by hackers, but it doesn’t have much of a legal leg to stand on.

For the fourth time in three years, a Federal Court has ruled that Florida’s law requiring drug tests for welfare recipients is unconstitutional.

Next week, the Supreme Court will be asked to determine the line between free speech online and criminal threats

A popular idea that does nothing useful while simultaneously violating the Constitution.

Not surprisingly, a law passed in the wake of the September 11th attacks has been used mostly for things that have nothing to do with terrorism.

Rebranding alone isn’t going to fix what’s causing the GOP to lose ground among a whole host of demographic groups.

There’s nothing wrong with choosing not to vote.

New York State’s gun law takes rights away from nearly 35,000 people without any due process whatsoever.

America’s “Patient Zero” doesn’t appear to have spread Ebola very far, but continued vigilance is called for. And, we need to focus on the part of the world where there really is an Ebola Crisis.

Law enforcement remains unhappy about the recent changes that will make it harder to break into a locked smartphone.

Poor Joe Biden can’t stay out of the news. This time, it’s not one of his gaffes but one by his youngest son.

A District of Columbia Judge has ruled that photographs of women taken in public do not violate the law.

Attorneys for celebrities caught up in the leak of nude photographs are targeting Google.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are pushing back against Apple and Google’s efforts to provide greater privacy to users.. They’re wrong.

A recent change by Apple is good news for advocates of privacy and civil liberties in the Internet Age.

Apple announced a stunning array of upgraded and new products yesterday.

Another Federal appellate Court has struck down state law bans on same-sex marriage, but the only thing that matters now is the Supreme Court.

A good law has one rather silly unintended consequence.

Our laws and social norms have not caught up to modern life.

Judging by the early results, the so-called “Right To Be Forgotten” recently created by Europe’s highest court is creating more problems than it will solve.

There’s a new round of allegations about American spying on Germany.

Hobby Lobby Is an important decision, but it’s one that the Supreme Court handed down a week earlier that will have the widest impact.

Another area where the law has not caught up with technology.

A unanimous Supreme Court rules that the Fourth Amendment bars police from searching your electronic device without a warrant.

Retired General Keith Alexander is hawking his services to banks at princely sums.

Should the police be able to track you without a warrant? One Federal Appeals Court says no.

Once ubiquitous, checks are disappearing as a means of payment.

A Reuters political blogger has set tongues wagging about the possibility another First Lady might run for the U.S. Senate.

The so-called “right to be forgotten” created by Europe’s highest court is unworkable, and ultimately absurd.

Bring in the lawyers!

A pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.

Today’s oral argument before the Supreme Court on the issue of police searches of cell phones and smartphones left much up in the air.