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The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides historical background of the Council, including the role of the previous Commission. It discusses the Council's current mandate and structure, as well as U.S. policy and congressional actions.
Date: June 5, 2008
Creator: Blanchfield, Luisa
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court

Description: This report provides an overview of the early judicial developments and the establishment of Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) procedures; summarizes selected court cases related to the detentions and the use of military commissions; and discusses the Detainee Treatment Act, as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Military Commissions Act of 2009, analyzing its effects on detainee-related litigation in federal court. The report summarizes the Supreme Court's decision … more
Date: April 5, 2010
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K. & Garcia, Michael J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides historical background of the Council, including the role of the previous Commission. It discusses the Council's current mandate and structures, as well as U.S. policy and congressional actions. Finally, it highlights possible policy issues for the 112th Congress, including the overall effectiveness of the Council in addressing human rights, implications for U.S. membership, and U.S. financial contributions to the Council.
Date: November 15, 2011
Creator: Blanchfield, Luisa
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court

Description: This report provides an overview of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) procedures. It summarizes relevant court cases and the effect of the Detainee Treatment Act, as well as pending legislation. The report also provides an analysis of relevant constitutional issues that may have some bearing on Congress's options with respect to detainees held at Guantanamo and elsewhere.
Date: January 29, 2009
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.; Garcia, Michael J. & Thomas, Kenneth R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The United Nations Human Rights Council: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides historical background of the the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, including the role of the previous Commission. It discusses the Council's current mandate and structures, as well as U.S. policy and congressional actions. Finally, it highlights possible policy issues for the 112th Congress, including the overall effectiveness of the Council in addressing human rights, implications for U.S. membership, and U.S. financial contributions to the Council.
Date: January 26, 2011
Creator: Blanchfield, Luisa
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Protection of Children Online: Federal and State Laws Addressing Cyberstalking, Cyberharassment, and Cyberbullying

Description: This report discusses Internet crimes, such as cyberbullying, cyberharassment, and cyberstalking, along with the limitations of such laws in the current environment. While Congress, under the Commerce Clause, has authority to regulate the Internet, Internet "harassment" presents new challenges for legislators in terms of defining and prosecuting such activity.
Date: September 5, 2008
Creator: Smith, Alison M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Protection of Children Online: Federal and State Laws Addressing Cyberstalking, Cyberharassment, and Cyberbullying

Description: This report discusses Internet crimes, such as cyberbullying, cyberharassment, and cyberstalking, along with the limitations of such laws in the current environment. While Congress, under the Commerce Clause, has authority to regulate the Internet, Internet "harassment" presents new challenges for legislators in terms of defining and prosecuting such activity.
Date: October 19, 2009
Creator: Smith, Alison M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Habeas Corpus Legislation in the 111th Congress

Description: This report is a brief overview of the recommendations from the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary and legislative proposals on habeas review.
Date: December 30, 2010
Creator: Doyle, Charles
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Issues for the 111th Congress

Description: This report includes a brief history of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), discusses subsequent modifications of FOIA, addresses statutory changes to FOIA that have not yet been implemented, examines Obama Administration efforts to modify the act, and outlines possible legislative issues related to the act.
Date: August 12, 2009
Creator: Ginsberg, Wendy R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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International Conflict and Property Rights: Fifth Amendment "Takings" Issues

Description: This report discusses the international conflict and property rights. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon has raised the possibility of responses by the United States that impinge on private property, and, in turn, the possibility of claims under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause.
Date: December 5, 2001
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online

Description: This report examines some of the efforts being made to protect of personal information, through federal laws and regulations. This report provides a brief overview of selected recent developments in the area of federal privacy law. This report does not cover workplace privacy laws or state privacy laws.
Date: April 6, 2011
Creator: Stevens, Gina
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Can Aliens in Immigration Proceedings Be Detained Indefinitely?: High Court Rules on Statutory, but not Constitutional Authority

Description: This report discusses the Supreme Court's ruling in the case of "Jennings vs. Rodriguez" which dealt with whether immigrant aliens could be detained indefinitely. The court ruled that the aliens could be held indefinitely without a bond hearing under statutory law but left the constitutionality of the action open for future interpretation.
Date: April 3, 2018
Creator: Smith, Hillel R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court

Description: This report provides an overview of the Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) procedures, summarizes court cases related to the detentions and the use of military commissions, and summarizes the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, analyzing its effects on detainee-related litigation in federal court. The report summarizes pending legislation and provides an analysis of relevant constitutional issues that may have some bearing on Congress's options… more
Date: July 29, 2008
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.; Garcia, Michael John & Thomas, Kenneth R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment

Description: This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment--of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.
Date: September 8, 2014
Creator: Ruane, Kathleen Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Detainee Provisions in the National Defense Authorization Bills

Description: This report offers a brief background of the salient issues raised by H.R. 1540 and S. 1867 regarding detention matters, provides a section-by-section analysis of the relevant subdivision of each bill, and compares the bills' approaches with respect to the major issues they address.
Date: November 18, 2011
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K. & Garcia, Michael John
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Freedom of Speech and Press: Exceptions to the First Amendment

Description: This report provides an overview of the major exceptions to the First Amendment, i.e., of the ways that the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee of freedom of speech and press to provide no protection or only limited protection for some types of speech.
Date: June 2, 2006
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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No Second Amendment Cases for the Supreme Court's 2014-2015 Term...Yet

Description: This report discusses the reluctance by the Supreme Court to take cases involving the Second Amendment. Commentators have observed that the Court appears to have become "gun shy" regarding this issue, given that it has not taken up a Second Amendment case since its landmark rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and McDonald v. City of Chicago in 2010.
Date: October 23, 2014
Creator: Chu, Vivian S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Freedom of Information Act and Nondisclosure Provisions in Other Federal Laws

Description: This report discusses Congressional considerations regarding how to balance the federal government's growing need for sensitive or confidential business information, the public's right of access to information about government activities, and the private sector's interest in keeping its sensitive or proprietary information protected from public disclosure. The report discusses this issue in light of particularly the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other similar legislation.
Date: September 24, 2010
Creator: Stevens, Gina
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S.-EU Data Privacy: From Safe Harbor to Privacy Shield

Description: This report provides background on U.S. and European Union (EU) data protection policies and the Safe Harbor Agreement, discusses the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling, and reviews the key elements of the newly-proposed Privacy Shield. It also explores various issues for Congress, including implications for U.S. firms of Safe Harbor's invalidation and the role of the Judicial Redress Act in helping to ameliorate U.S.-EU tensions on data privacy and protection issues.
Date: May 19, 2016
Creator: Weiss, Martin A. & Archick, Kristin
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: A Sketch of Selected Issues

Description: This report briefly outlines three issues relating to electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and touches upon some of the perspectives reflected in the ongoing debate. These issues include the inherent and often dynamic tension between national security and civil liberties, particularly rights of privacy and free speech; the need for the intelligence community to be able to efficiently and effectively collect foreign intelligence information from the comm… more
Date: July 7, 2008
Creator: Bazan, Elizabeth B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Internet Privacy - Protecting Personal Information: Overview and Pending Legislation

Description: The privacy of information collected by operators of World Wide Web sites is a growing issue of concern. Many in Congress and the Clinton Administration prefer to rely on industry self regulation to protect consumer privacy, but frustration at industry's slow pace led to the 1998 passage of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act in 1998 (P.L. 105-277). This report provides a very abbreviated overview of Internet privacy issues and tracks pending legislation.
Date: January 16, 2001
Creator: Smith, Marcia S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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