Center for Constitutional Rights

New York Post Slams Stop/Frisk Panel, Makes Panel Member Chuckle

One of the law professors named to an advisory council in connection with the independent federal monitor of the police department's stop and frisk strategy says she laughed out loud when she saw today's New York Post story which dubbed the panel a bunch of "clowns."

Daniel McGowan, Put In an Extreme Prison Isolation Unit For Writing Things, Loses Lawsuit Against Bureau of Prisons

A New York environmental activist stuck in an extreme isolation unit for writing letters and publishing articles -- and then re-jailed for writing about being put in that isolation unit in the first place -- has had his lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons dismissed, a development he calls ... More >>

City Used Memo Leak to Drag Stop-and-Frisk Judge Through the Mud, Lawyers Say

In an act of desperation, the city of New York has used the media to launch a "despicable" attack on the federal judge presiding over a landmark stop-and-frisk trial, attorneys for the plaintiffs say. Early Wednesday morning, the New York Daily News published a story describing an internal report c ... More >>

Major Stop and Frisk Trial Begins: Harlem Mom Takes 14-year-old Son to Watch Opening Statements

In the overflow room set up for the much anticipated trial over the city's stop and frisk campaign, we came across two unexpected courtroom observers: a mom from Harlem and her 14-year-old son. Iusaset Bakr tells the Voice that she took her Jaihdow Kwantu out of school for the day and brought him t ... More >>

Ray Kelly, Mike Bloomberg Facing Stiff Test In Upcoming Stop and Frisk Trial, Starting Monday

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has served the city for 11 years. Mayor Bloomberg is in the final year of his third term. Next week, the legacies of both men will be tested in a major trial starting Monday over the city's stop and frisk campaign. The case is a class action lawsuit filed in 2008 calle ... More >>

Ray Kelly, Police Commissioner, Issues New Command Guide on Stop and Frisk

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has issued a new "command level instructor's guide" to performing stop and frisks, in his latest move to blunt criticism of the strategy. The news here is that this new training has been given to police officers in every command, rather than only academy cadets, as ... More >>

Local Pols Meet With Justice Department To Lobby For Federal Stop and Frisk Investigation

In a development that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg can't be too happy about, local pols met in Washington with the U.S. Justice Department this week to lobby for a federal investigation of the NYPD's stop-and-frisk campaign. Kelly, through his 10-year tenure, has been successf ... More >>

Jazz Hayden and the Fight Against Stop-and-Frisk

An unlikely activist's battle with the NYPD's frisky business

Zuccotti Park is Full of Zoning Violations, Says the NYCLU

It's been nearly two months since the city evicted Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park, ostensibly over concerns about health and safety violations. But some of the movement's allies claim the new regime at the park violates New York City zoning laws. In a letter sent yesterday, the New York Civi ... More >>

NYPD Stop and Frisks Rise, But Civilian Complaints Fall

​Interestingly, while NYPD stop and frisks continue to rise, the number of civilian complaints fell last year, according to figures published by the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Police stopped more than 601,000 people in 2010, a jump of 25,000 people over 2009. But complaints about those ... More >>

Vanessa Hicks, Former NYPD Officer, Sues Over Ticket Quota

​A former police officer is suing the NYPD for firing her for not writing enough summonses and not stopping and frisking enough people, the New York Daily News is reporting. Vanessa Hicks' lawsuit follows last year's class action lawsuit filed on behalf of about 25 New Yorkers who allege the ... More >>

Glenn Beck Campaign Leads to Death Threats For New York Professor

Prof. Piven​Frances Fox Piven is a 78-year-old professor of political science and sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, who Fox News host Glenn Beck has declared "an enemy of the Constitution." Logically, to a certain type of Beck-worshipping nut, that means she ... More >>

Truth Versus Spin: An Op-Ed On The NYPD's Crime Statistics From Two Criminologists

​By John A. Eterno and Eli B. Silverman The NYPD, its acolytes, and assorted politicians' 15 year unyielding boasting and bellowing of the City's "miraculous crime drop" has constantly filled the air waves and newspaper print. However, since January of this year we notice reports of increas ... More >>

Steven Mauriello, Subject of Voice Series "The NYPD Tapes" Is Out at Bed-Stuy

​In the wake of the Voice's 'NYPD Tapes' series, the commanding officer of Brooklyn's 81st Precinct has been reassigned to the Bronx. Deputy Inspector Steven Mauriello, who was heard repeatedly haranguing his cops to hit quotas and sweep people off corners, has been moved to the Bronx transit ... More >>

City Council Members Shocked by "The NYPD Tapes"

​Two city council members told the Voice this week that orders given by precinct supervisors in Bedford-Stuyvesant's 81st Precinct appeared to encourage officers to violate the civil rights of local residents. Meanwhile, a civil rights organization called on the city to investigate how NYPD q ... More >>

Cops Hand Out Cards with Stop-and-Frisks

New York cops are accustomed to the stop-and-frisk, a casual maneuver in which they detain a citizen on the street, pat him down, and tell him to getouttahere or arrest him. Now, in a pilot program affecting Harlem, the South Bronx and East New York, they also issue their victims a palm card (in s ... More >>

Letters 10.29.08

Considering the War-Crimes Trial of the Bush Administration

Who will lead Bush's defense team—Rudy Giuliani?

War On Terror, Inc.

Letters

Chasing Rummy

Michael Ratner tries to make Europe too hot for the former defense secretary

The CIA's No-Questions-Asked Travel Agent

A private corporation joins Bush administration's conspiracy to obstruct justice

Arlen Specter's Sellout

Senate Judiciary Committee chair intent on rescuing Bush from felony charges

The Torture Judge

U.S. court rules our government can break international laws to keep us safe

Trial by Fire: Holding Bush & Co. Accountable for Their Actions

The Broken Constitution

More eyewitnesses to U.S. torture of detainees pierce the Bush administration's cover-up

The Truth Is in There

Talking with Barbara Olshansky, leading lawyer for Guantánamo detainees

Morning Report 3/16/05
A Tragic Crush

'War Crimes' Murmurs

At home, Bush, Warner, Lugar join the department of Rumsfeld defense

The Spinning Wheel

A story in The New York Times causes an ACLU leader to scurry to create a cover-up

City May Have to Pay Protesters

A whole new spin on the cost of dissent

Elephants in Our Living Room

Ignorance is not an option—here's a guide to get you primed for the convention

Torture Trail

Bush's lawyers conclude the torture of prisoners is justified in war on terrorism

A Nation of Millions

Hip-Hop Convention seeks answer to what's holding young America back

More Allegations From Guantánamo Link Abuses to Abu Ghraib

Former Detainees Say Their Treatment Was Caught on Tape

One Nation Under Guard

The U.S. Occupation turns malignant, like those cancerous prison cells

The Rumsfeld-Bush Legal Black Hole

Powers Formerly Reserved Only for Kings

Exposé Energizes Court Battle

Ashcroft Could Face Reckoning on Detainee Mistreatment

Activists Push Back at NYPD

Rescuing Protest Before Bush '04

Ashcroft Defied on City Hall Steps

Telling Ray Kelly to Protect the Constitution

Demonstrators Regroup, Plan MLK Day Actions

Activists Focus on the Mounting Costs of War

A Citizen Shorn of All Rights

A Case Vital to Future Americans, Too

Immigrant Roundup

From Brooklyn to L.A., Muslim Detainees Protest Mass Arrests

A Smaller Stick

Terrorism Investigators Risk Scaring Off Their Best Helpers

Victims of the Dragnet

After 9-11, Official Terror Kicks In

INS Detainee Hits, U.S. Strikes Back

Canadian Attempts Freedom on Habeas Suit but Gets Charged

'Let Us Not Be Suckers for Anybody'

Why People of All Colors Should (Still) Resist Racial Profiling

Getting Back Our Rights

Don’t Brood and Despair. Organize!

Where Were the Law Guardians?

When Cowardice Paralyzed a Town

This Precious Right

A Veteran of the Abortion Struggle Looks Back