Glenn Greenwald's Blog, page 151

Equating sexual orientation with "sex life"

(updated below)

Perhaps it's naïveté, but I've been amazed by the outraged objections of many Good Liberals to the mere discussion of Elena Kagan's sexual orientation.  Without realizing it, they've completely internalized one of the most pernicious myths long used to demand that gay people remain in the closet:  namely, that to reveal one's sexual orientation is to divulge one's "sex life."  From the first moment that Ben Domenech wrote his now infamous CBS post mistakenly...

Why do voters hate incumbents?

After last night's election results, there's no doubt that the electorate has contempt for Washington incumbents and the political establishment.  Virtually every media account dutifully recites the same storyline -- that these results reflect an "anti-incumbent" mood -- but virtually none of these stories examines the reasons for that "mood."  Why do Americans, seemingly regardless of party affiliation or geographic location, despise the political establishment?

One reason why media...

What explains the anti-establishment sentiment?

After last night's election results, there's no doubt that the electorate has contempt for Washington incumbents and the political establishment.  Virtually every media account dutifully recites the same storyline -- that these results reflect an "anti-incumbent" mood -- but virtually none of these stories examines the reasons for that "mood."  Why do Americans, seemingly regardless of party affiliation or geographic location, despise the political establishment?

One reason why media...

WikiLeaks founder has his passport confiscated

This is a reminder that one can't run around exposing the secrets of the most powerful governments, militaries and corporations in the world without consequences (h/t):

The Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks had his passport confiscated by police when he arrived in Melbourne last week.

Julian Assange, who does not have an official home base and travels every six weeks, told the Australian current affairs program Dateline that immigration officials had said...

Obama and the myth of the public opinion excuse

(updated below - Update II - Update III)

Writing about my post from last week on the diversion of civil liberties erosions from non-citizens to citizens, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's Charli Carpenter asks what (if anything) can be done to combat this trend:

[I:]s it too late for dissent to make a difference? I welcome readers' ideas. I think many voters thought they'd already taken the appropriate step by electing a progressive, pro-civil liberties leader. With...

Appearing on ABC's "This Week"

I was on ABC's This Week roundtable this morning -- along with George Will, Greg Craig, Ed Gillespie, and The New York Times' Helene Cooper -- discussing the Kagan nomination, Obama's civil liberties record, and the various primary challenges taking place around the country.  I have several observations to make about the whole experience, though I''m traveling today and likely won't be able to post until tomorrow or even Tuesday.  Below are three clips -- first, the exchange I had with Kagan ...

Bloggingheads: SCOTUS and restraining corporate influence

For those hordes of people who haven't yet gotten enough of me and Larry Lessig this week, our traveling road show continued as we recorded a Bloggingheads session yesterday (video below).  We discussed our contentious exchange from earlier this week and the lessons to be drawn from it; Elena Kagan's views on executive power; whether Kagan (and judicial nominees generally) should be forced to answer specific questions about their views of the law and the Constitution; proposals for...

New target of rights erosions: U.S. citizens

A primary reason Bush and Cheney succeeded in their radical erosion of core liberties is because they focused their assault on non-citizens with foreign-sounding names, casting the appearance that none of what they were doing would ever affect the average American.  There were several exceptions to that tactic -- the due-process-free imprisonment of Americans Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, the abuse of the "material witness" statute to detain American Muslims, the eavesdropping on Americans...

Continuing the Kagan debate with Larry Lessig

I didn't necessarily intend to be so engulfed by the Elena Kagan debate -- speaking and writing about it every day, here and in other venues, to the exclusion of most other matters -- but I suppose that's inevitable once you become centrally identified with a position.  I hope and expect to turn to several other stories very shortly, but for the moment, there is still much to say and learn about the Kagan nomination.  The reality is that the Supreme Court (by design) has as much of an impact ...

"Washington Intellectual Dishonesty" defined

In the post I wrote yesterday after the Kagan announcement, I noted one genuinely encouraging aspect of her record:  in 1995, she rightly excoriated the Supreme Court confirmation process as a "vapid and hollow charade" because nominees refuse to answer any meaningful questions about what they think or believe.  Kagan argued that "it is an embarrassment that Senators do not insist that any nominee reveal what kind of Justice she would make, by disclosing her views on important legal...