Taking Liberties

Susan N. Herman became president of the American Civil Liberties Union in 2008 after serving on its national board for twenty years. A constitutional scholar and chaired professor at Brooklyn Law School, she is the co-editor (with Paul Finkelman) of Terrorism, Government, and Law and the author of The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial.

• Introduction ; PART I: DRAGNETS AND WATCHLISTS ; Chapter 1 The Webmaster and the Football Player ; The Material Support Dragnet ; The Football Player ; The Material Support and Material Witness Dragnets ; Chapter 2. <"Foreign Terrorist Organizations,>" Humanitarians, ; and the First Amendment ; The Iranian Democrat ; Peacemakers and Humanitarians ; Chapter 3. Charity at Home ; The Campaign against Charities ; Collateral Damage to Freedom of Religion and Association ; Chapter 4 Traveling with Terror ; Watching the Watchlists ; Security Theater? ; The Rights of Others ; Chapter 5 Banks and Databanks ; Financial Institutions as TIPSters ; Watchlists and the Private Sector ; Does It Work? ; Collecting the Dots ; Why Should I Care? - Privacy and Democracy ; PART II - SURVEILLANCE AND SECRECY ; Chapter 6 Gutting the Fourth Amendment ; The Fourth Amendment and Terrorism ; <"Foreign>" Intelligence Surveillance, Americans, and the Patriot Act ; Mayfield v. United States Part II ; The Secret Court and the One-Sided Litigation ; A Job for Congress and the Courts ; Chapter 7 The Patriot Act and Library/Business Records ; American Librarians ; Judicial Fumbling ; Third Party Records and the Fourth Amendment ; Reconsidering the <"Library Provision>" ; Chapter 8 Gagging the Librarians ; The Library Connection ; Other Librarian Tales ; Chapter 9 John Doe and the National Security Letter ; Why National Security Letters? ; John Doe and Victor Marrero ; Loosening the Gag ; Fourth Amendment Rights for NSL Recipients ; First Amendment Rights for Internet Users ; The Inspector General Exposes 2007-2010 ; National Security Letters, the Fourth Amendment, and Congress ; Chapter 10 The President's Surveillance Program ; In the Halls of the Department of Justice ; The Rubber Stamp Congress ; Closing the Courthouse Doors ; Post-FAA Litigation ; The Secret Court Strikes Again ; <"What Else Is It That We Don't Know?>" ; PART III: RESTORING CHECKS AND BALANCES ; Chapter 11 American Democracy - The President, the Congress, and the Courts ; The View from the Oval Office - From Bush to Obama and Beyond ; The Sleeping Watchdog ; Secrecy and the Courts ; The Eclipse of the Courts ; Conclusion ; Ordinary Americans ; Restoring Balance

"Taking Liberties offers a compelling case that the basic constitutional protections most Americans take for granted, including the rights to free speech, a fair trial and due process, as well as freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, were seriously compromised after 9/11 as a result of the government's well-meaning but ill-conceived efforts to safeguard the country against another attack. . . [P]ersuasively fair and reasonable . . . Avaluable contribution to the growing body of literature regarding the War on Terror's impact on our constitutional rights." --Kirkus Reviews"This smart and passionate book shows how we as Americans - and not our faceless enemies - have the most to lose from the erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11. By showing what has happened to real people, Susan Herman offers the wake-up call we need to regain our perspective and reclaim our values." --Linda Greenhouse"Taking Liberties is an engrossing read full of heartbreaking stories about how the War on Terror more than made up in zeal what it utterly lacked in logic. In the immediate aftermath, the errors documented here were understandable; ten years out, they are unforgivable. Anyone who cares about civil liberties, believes the War on Terror is making us safer, or even believes the War on Terror is about the War on Terror should read this book." -BarryFriedman, author of The Will of the People"'If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about.' This phrase is destined to be with us for all time, kept alive by the same people who cheerfully volunteer that they are willing to trade some 'liberty for security.' Susan N. Herman's new book, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of Democracy, provides a sharp rebuttal to this compliant mind-set that gave the government more power over the rest of us . . . [A]great catalog of personal injustice anecdotes, with story after story of people who don't do anything wrong yet have plenty to worry about-they get deported, imprisoned without charge, tortured . . . In additionto compiling all these outrages in one handy place, Taking Liberties does quite a good job of detailing the mechanics of the laws, policies, and procedures that created this havoc and in most cases made legal redress unattainable." --Reason"The prosecutions on the basis of 'contribution of expertise' should be of particular professional interest to sociologists." --Contemporary Sociology