Congressional Research Service Reports - 19 Matching Results

Search Results

Results: 1 - 19
open access

Interrogation of Detainees: Overview of the McCain Amendment

Description: Controversy has arisen regarding U.S. treatment of enemy combatants and terrorist suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations, and whether such treatment complies with related U.S. statutes and treaties. Certain provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), first introduced by Senator John McCain, have popularly been referred to as the "McCain Amendment." This report discusses the McCain amendment and also discusses the application of the McCain Amendment by the DOD in the upd… more
Date: October 2, 2006
Creator: Garcia, Michael John
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Internet Privacy: Overview and Pending Legislation

Description: Internet privacy issues generally encompass two types of concerns. One is the collection of personally identifiable information (PII) by website operators from visitors to government and commercial websites, or by software that is surreptitiously installed on a user’s computer (“spyware”) and transmits the information to someone else. The other is the monitoring of electronic mail and Web usage by the government or law enforcement officials, employers, or email service providers.
Date: October 19, 2005
Creator: Smith, Marcia S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Interrogation of Detainees: Overview of the McCain Amendment

Description: Controversy has arisen regarding U.S. treatment of enemy combatants and terrorist suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations, and whether such treatment complies with U.S. statutes and treaties such as the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Congress approved additional guidelines concerning the treatment of detainees via the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA), which was enact… more
Date: October 2, 2006
Creator: Garcia, Michael John
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
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: October 19, 2009
Creator: Smith, Alison M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

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.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Race-Based Civil Dentention for Security Purposes

Description: The current crisis has caused concern that measures implemented to fight terrorism will have a disproportionately negative effect on innocent Arab-Americans, Muslims, and aliens with ties to the Middle East. The purpose of this report is to address the issues surrounding race-based civil detention for security purposes.
Date: October 4, 2001
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Medical Records Privacy: Questions and Answers on the HIPAA Final Rule

Description: This report discusses the issue facing Congress on whether to continue to support the executive branch’s prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers, in accordance with marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, or whether to relax federal marijuana prohibition enough to permit the medical use of botanical cannabis products by seriously ill persons, especially in states that have created medical marijuana programs under state law.
Date: October 3, 2002
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

China's Relations with Central Asian States and Problems with Terrorism

Description: This report provides an overview of the Muslim separatist movement in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China’s attempts to stifle activities which it considers terrorism, and implications for U.S. policy. Some analysts suggest that the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism may make it difficult to pressure the Chinese government on human rights and religious freedoms, particularly as they relate to Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Date: October 7, 2002
Creator: McNeal, Dewardric L. & Dumbaugh, Kerry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Endangered Species Act and Claims of Property Rights "Takings"

Description: This report first outlines the ESA provisions most relevant to the act’s impacts on private property, and then surveys the major ESA-relevant principles of Fifth Amendment takings law. The report then proceeds to its core topic: the court decisions adjudicating whether government measures based on the ESA effect a taking of property under the Fifth Amendment. The cases address four kinds of ESA measures: (1) restrictions on land uses that might adversely affect species listed as endangered or t… more
Date: October 14, 2005
Creator: Meltz, Robert
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Congress and U.S. Policy on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees: Recent Legislation and Implementation

Description: The passage of the reauthorization of the North Korean Human Rights Act in October 2008 reasserted congressional interest in influencing the Bush Administration's policy toward North Korea. In addition to reauthorizing funding at original levels, the bill expresses congressional criticism of the implementation of the original 2004 law and adjusts some of the provisions relating to the Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea and the U.S. resettlement of North Korean refugees. Some outside a… more
Date: October 22, 2008
Creator: Chanlett-Avery, Emma
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Hurricane Katrina: HIPAA Privacy and Electronic Health Records of Evacuees

Description: On September 4th, 2005 Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Leavitt declared a federal public health emergency for Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, and waived certain requirements under Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to allow health care providers in affected areas to care for patients without violating certain provisions of those laws. The Secretary waived sanctions and penal… more
Date: October 28, 2005
Creator: Stevens, Gina Marie
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
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. For example, the Court has decided that the First Amendment provides no protection to obscenity, child pornography, or speech that constitutes "advocacy of the use of force or of law violation ... where such advocacy is directed to inciting or… more
Date: October 16, 2009
Creator: Cohen, Henry
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Ebola Outbreak: Quarantine and Isolation Authority

Description: This legal sidebar discusses recent quarantine policies announced by several states, including New York and New Jersey, for travelers arriving from areas affected by the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease, which have raised legal and constitutional questions about federal and state authority to order quarantine and isolation measures.
Date: October 28, 2014
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Human Rights in China: Trends and Policy Implications

Description: This report analyzes China's mixed record on human rights -- major human rights problems, new human rights legislation, and the development of civil society, legal awareness, and social and political activism. This report discusses major areas of interest but does not provide an exhaustive account of all human rights abuses or related incidents.
Date: October 31, 2008
Creator: Lum, Thomas & Fischer, Hannah
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen