Civil Liberties

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with this overview of its activities--sometimes quiet and sometimes strident--as a watchdog and safeguard for Canadians and their rights as citizens. Through a series of discussions and interviews, a picture of Canada over the last half-century evolves.

This volume contributes to the on-going legal discussion on pressing procedural and substantial law issues in the ambit of international human rights and civil liberties. While the 20th century has seen the true awakening of human rights, the 21st century poses new challenges to this ever-unfolding area of law. Not only do international tribunals and quasi-tribunals worldwide and domestic US and European continental courts have to deal with increasing numbers of complaints and petitions from individuals and groups on a vast array of societal problems, the legal issues put to them are sometimes extremely difficult to resolve as they relate to very sensitive issues. This book examines issues ranging from the status of human rights under US law to the status of the ECHR in the broader context of international law. It looks at the role of positive obligations in the case law of the Strasbourg Court, as well the impact of its case-law on childbirth and push-back operation towards boat people, but also at the growing unwillingness of ECHR member states to cooperate with the Strasbourg Court. It explores the new frontiers in US Capital punishment litigation, the first case before the International Criminal Court and the legal effect of judgments of the European Court on third states.​

Also includes information on aftermath of terrorist attack, Al Qaeda, George W. Bush, civil liberties, U.S. Congress, U.S. Constitution, courts, detainees, detention, due process, emergency constitution, emergency powers, emergency regime, existential crisis, extraordinary powers, Founding Fathers, framework statutes, freedom, habeas corpus writ, Iraq war, Abraham Lincoln, Jose Padilla, panic reaction, precedents of presidential powers, presidency, president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, rule of law, second strike, Second World War, secrecy, seizure, September 11, 2001, state of emergency, supermajoritarian escalator, terrorist attack, torture, United Kingdom, etc.

More than merely describing developments in the field of civil liberties and human rights, this comprehensive and challenging textbook provides students with detailed and thought-provoking coverage and analysis of the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in an era in which human rights are coming increasingly under pressure. Extensively re-written and updated since the last edition, here Helen Fenwick considers the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998, paying particular attention to Labour legislation, especially in the fields of criminal justice and terrorism. This book: considers recent key domestic decisions in the post-Human Rights Act era, including Campbell, A and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Dept, Ghaidan v Mendoza, R(Gillan) v Commisioner of Police of the Metropolis contains a new chapter on important developments in counter-terrorism law – covering the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Terrorism Acts 2005 and 2006 analyzes key developments in the sphere of media freedom, including the impact of the Communications Act 2003, Pro-life Alliance and Campbell explores new developments in criminal justice, including the Serious and Organized Crime Act 2005 addresses the changes in the field of anti-discrimination law, including the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2003 and Equality Act 2006. This textbook is an essential resource for students studying the development of human rights and civil liberties in the early years of the twenty-first century.

This volume brings together eight US authors breaking new ground with multidisciplinary perspectives and an exciting range of real-life topics concerning the central question, 'What is civil liberty?' The contributions here dive into freedom of speech, religious freedom, freedom of assembly, and much more, examining how and why marginalized groups such as African Americans, women, and queers used civil liberties in their struggle for equality. Topics covered in this volume range from considering how we can moderate the corrupting influences of luxury and consumerism promoted by private property rights to the dilemma of teaching politically controversial civil liberty topics and the role of free speech in the classroom. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in civil liberty, whether an expert, novice, or in-between.

The American Civil Liberties Union partners with award-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman in this “forceful, beautifully written” (Associated Press) collection that brings together many of our greatest living writers, each contributing an original piece inspired by a historic ACLU case. On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays “full of struggle, emotion, fear, resilience, hope, and triumph” (Los Angeles Review of Books) about landmark cases in the organization’s one-hundred-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue. Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend of- the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU’s spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU’s stance on campaign finance. These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted. Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.

Discusses some of the civil liberty and human rights issues with which Canadians are faced, including pornography, hate literature, affirmative action employment practices, police powers, right to privacy, the protection of minorities, and the rights of strikers, welfare recipients, and the mentally ill.