this round: ashroft zero, good guys one

A bit of the USA PATRIOT Act chipped away as gag orders are confirmed as being unconstitutional. (via thousand faced moon)

"After laboring under a gag provision for months, it is an enormous relief to be able to tell the world just how dangerous and extreme this Patriot Act power is," said ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson. "As the judge recognized, the Patriot Act imposed a ‘categorical, perpetual and automatic’ gag on every person who received a National Security Letter, as well as their lawyers."

Between this, and secret laws that require secret briefs to address them, it is difficult to recognize the free speech nature of the democratic US these days; we don't even get to hear about the stuff we should be fighting.