President Hillary Clinton and Civil Liberties

[Mercenary]

I think she'll be equally as bad. And while there are indeed other aspects of civil liberties and local police and judges are very important, that doesn't diminish the importance of domestic spying as it relates to liberty.

The best candidates that seem to be running that have any kind of name recognition at all are Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul. Most of the rest of them are pretty bad. I wish that was the general election as the country would be better off than now no matter who won. I think Rand Paul has a shot, but a small one. Sanders unfortunately has none of winning the nomination. Fact is most on both the left and right don't care much about civil liberties as indicated by how they vote.

[King]

Option 3, but this is true of any candidate who would win. Even Bernie Sanders or Rand Paul.

[SteveRogers]

People also conflate things like drones with civil liberties when there's no connection between the two.  

That's what everyone says until they get droned.

[Maxwell]

Option 4, but that's what happens under every presidency. It's too late to turn around at this point.

[SteveRogers]

Option 4, but that's what happens under every presidency. It's too late to turn around at this point.

This is more or less correct. Every president, regardless of party, will always seek to expand executive power. Who was the last president who actually reigned in the CIA, NSA, etc.? Now, this isn't necessarily a fundamentally bad thing: under our constitutional scheme of separation of powers, the office of the presidency is designed to push the boundaries of executive power with the goal of enhancing national security. The legislative and judicial branches, in turn, are supposed to push back in the other direction in furtherance of public opinion and civil liberties respectively. Its supposed to be an adversarial system.

The solution to the abuses of the NSA is probably not to ask or expect the executive to voluntarily curtail its own power, but rather to ask congress to take a more active role in setting outer limits on what such agencies can do. A more functional congress could solve most of these problems fairly easily.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

When it comes to civil liberties, we tend to emphasize the executive branch along with the CIA, FBI and NSA.  People also conflate things like drones with civil liberties when there's no connection between the two. 

However, in reality, what matters is the local police and the judicial branch.  Republicans will only nominate anti-civil liberties judges and will support the prison-industrial complex every step of the way.  So, it's imperative to support Democrats if you care about civil liberties.  Simple as that. 

Bernie Sanders or left-wing Democrat du jour would not nominate liberal Justices to the Supreme Court, because they won't get elected in the first place.  Hillary Clinton would nominate people like the current liberal four justices so she's the civil liberties candidate.

Who is it that is working on criminal justice reform in the Senate right now? Why would a person who cares about the fourth amendment support Breyer over Scalia?

If you think Republicans are going to reform the criminal justice system, you're insane.

And sure, the most stongest-4th Amendment conservative justice vs. the most weakest-4th amendment liberal justice.  Thing is, there are other amendments. 

You didn't answer the question about who it is that is actually working to reform the criminal justice system.

If you think that all Democrats are functionally the same, or all Republicans are functionally the same, in terms of what they would do and what kind of justices they would nominate, you need to take off the hack glasses.

What are the amendments that you think the liberal justices are uniformly good on?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Why do people still use this meme that Obozo is the worst POTUS ever for 'civil liberties'?

[bedstuy]

When it comes to civil liberties, we tend to emphasize the executive branch along with the CIA, FBI and NSA.  People also conflate things like drones with civil liberties when there's no connection between the two. 

However, in reality, what matters is the local police and the judicial branch.  Republicans will only nominate anti-civil liberties judges and will support the prison-industrial complex every step of the way.  So, it's imperative to support Democrats if you care about civil liberties.  Simple as that. 

Bernie Sanders or left-wing Democrat du jour would not nominate liberal Justices to the Supreme Court, because they won't get elected in the first place.  Hillary Clinton would nominate people like the current liberal four justices so she's the civil liberties candidate.

Who is it that is working on criminal justice reform in the Senate right now? Why would a person who cares about the fourth amendment support Breyer over Scalia?

If you think Republicans are going to reform the criminal justice system, you're insane.

And sure, the most stongest-4th Amendment conservative justice vs. the most weakest-4th amendment liberal justice.  Thing is, there are other amendments. 

You didn't answer the question about who it is that is actually working to reform the criminal justice system.

If you think that all Democrats are functionally the same, or all Republicans are functionally the same, in terms of what they would do and what kind of justices they would nominate, you need to take off the hack glasses.

What are the amendments that you think the liberal justices are uniformly good on?

A few members of Congress idly talking about criminal justice reform is not "working on."  At the end of the day, it's just a smoke-screen for all the terrible stuff Rand Paul types want to do.  And, sure, there are bad Republicans and worse Republicans.  But, the President is still constrained by Congress on most initiatives so none of them will sign any progressive, forward thinking legislation.

And, I'm not going to say any group of justices are uniformly good on a set of issues.  I don't even buy there is truly something called "good" on civil liberties.  It's a set of complicated issues.  But, I think anyone would agree that the 4 liberal justices are more civil libertarians than the conservative 5.  And, we know that if a Republican is elected and gets a nomination, they'll nominate a crazy Clarence Thomas type. 

[All Along The Watchtower]

Why do people still use this meme that Obozo is the worst POTUS ever for 'civil liberties'?

because snow-din

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

A few members of Congress idly talking about criminal justice reform is not "working on."  At the end of the day, it's just a smoke-screen for all the terrible stuff Rand Paul types want to do.

Ok, that's a swell reason to oppose the REDEEM ACT or the Smarter Sentencing Act I guess.   If only they had been introduced and/or sponsored by Chuck Schumer instead of Rand Paul it might be worth supporting.