OUR PICKSThe DOJ Puts Apple's iMessage Encryption in the Antitrust Crosshairs | How America Stopped Trusting the Experts | Senate Unveils “Compromise” FISA Reauthorization Bill, and more
· US Official in Guatemala for Talks, Says Texas Migrant Law Unconstitutional
DHS secretary Mayorkas was in Guatemala to work on the U.S.-led regional strategy toward immigration
· Senate Unveils “Compromise” FISA Reauthorization Bill
The modified warrant requirement resembles but doesn’t fully embrace a compromise foreshadowed by PCLOB last year.
· How Trump Valet’s Testimony Supports DOJ’s January 6th Case
For more than a year, Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and his team have desperately searched for a way to undermine the credibility of the January 6th Committee, which disbanded in January 2023. Those efforts have failed.
· How America Stopped Trusting the Experts
A conversation with Tom Nichols about American narcissism, the pandemic, and declining trust
· The DOJ Puts Apple’s iMessage Encryption in the Antitrust Crosshairs
Privacy and security are an Apple selling point. But the DOJ’s new antitrust lawsuit argues that Apple selectively embraces privacy and security features in ways that hurt competition—and users.
US Official in Guatemala for Talks, Says Texas Migrant Law Unconstitutional (AP / VOA News)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that a Texas law giving state authorities the power to arrest and deport migrants who have entered the country illegally is unconstitutional.
“It is our strongly held view as a matter of law that SB4 [the Texas law] … is unconstitutional and it is our hope and confidence that the courts will strike it down with finality,” Mayorkas said during a joint news conference with Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo in the Guatemalan capital.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the Texas law Wednesday but did not rule. The law is on hold for now.
Mayorkas was in Guatemala to work on the U.S.-led regional strategy toward immigration. He described it as seeking to “build lawful, safe and orderly pathways for people to reach safety from their place of persecution and, at the same time, returning people to their countries as a consequence when they do not take advantage of those lawful pathways.”
Among those safe pathways is a U.S. effort to streamline the process for those seeking U.S. asylum in the region through so-called safe mobility offices. They allow migrants to start the process where they are rather than making the dangerous and costly journey to the U.S. border.
Senate Unveils “Compromise” FISA Reauthorization Bill (Preston Marquis, Lawfare)
Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) on March 14 unveiled a new, bipartisan bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as Congress struggles to reach consensus on reforming the authority before it is set to expire next month. In the Security and Freedom Enhancement Act of 2024 (SAFE Act), Sens. Durbin and Lee have crafted a modified warrant requirement for U.S. person queries conducted under Section 702 that seeks compromise between national security hawks who hold that a warrant requirement will render Section 702 operationally “unworkable” and privacy advocates who maintain that court approvals will help address abuse and “backdoor searches” of U.S. person communications. It’s a compromise that is unlikely to sit well with the Biden Administration or the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. (Cont.)
