The federal government’s efforts to consolidate massive amounts of personal data could make it easier to monitor and target protesters, ramp up mass deportations, and more. Here’s what to know about the threats and how states and Congress can push back: bit.ly/44t5Rob

Dangers of Trump Administration's Data Consolidation Efforts

Congress and state and local governments must create new safeguards around the collection, integration, and misuse of people’s data to protect privacy and First Amendment rights.

brennancenter.org

Attorney (and former SPLC board member) Laura Prather explains how lawsuits are used to silence truthful reporting — and why we need anti-SLAPP laws to stop the growing trend. https://youtu.be/_IV7veYUHFU?si=NOlFubRm-DvtYTZY As Prather says, we must stand up to the bullies and defend free speech.

How legal bullying works—and how to protect yourself | Laura Prather | TEDxSurrey

In this talk, Laura Prather shares how her belief in free speech sparked by a high school teacher was tested when she witnessed the legal system used to silence truth. As a human rights lawyer, she saw firsthand how Lance Armstrong weaponized lawsuits to intimidate critics, revealing a growing threat known as SLAPPs: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Laura explains how these cases financially and emotionally punish people simply for speaking out, from students to caregivers. She argues that free speech depends on strong Anti-SLAPP laws, which stop abusive lawsuits early and protect ordinary citizens. Her message is a call to defend democracy by standing up to legal bullies and safeguarding everyone’s right to speak. Laura is a preeminent human rights attorney whose three decades of landmark free-speech victories are an urgent call to action. As partner and head of Haynes Boone’s media law group, she has forged protections that matter—leading coalitions to enact anti-SL

youtube.com

This is an example of the further criminalization of resistance as such: www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-rubio...

Leak: Rubio’s WMD Scandal Is “Far-Left Terrorism”

U.S. targets "anti-tech," "pro-Iranian" & "antisemitic networks" with new three-letter designation

kenklippenstein.com

This is more than people get for rape and murder

Guardian US@us.theguardian.com · last mo.

Judge hands down 50-year sentence to defendant Ines Soto, whose wife Elizabeth was sentenced to same prison term

Big win for privacy. Major setback for mass surveillance. For journalists, their sources, and everyone else, this Supreme Court decision is a powerful protection for location data, and potentially for other sensitive information stored on their phones.

Victory! Supreme Court Says Constitution Protects People’s Location Data

You have an expectation of privacy in location data that reveals your movements in the physical world, and even short-term surveillance of these movements is a search subject to the Fourth Amendment, ...

eff.org

What is happening to the Prairieland Defendants is unchecked state repression. From the beginning, this case has been politicized, and was meant to send a message to others. The judges admitted as such. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/prairieland-defendants-texas/

In Texas, Protesting ICE Can Get You a Life Sentence

Under Trump, eight Prairieland defendants were sentenced to a combined four and a half centuries in prison.

thenation.com

SCOTUS just delivered its most important Fourth Amendment decision in years — and it's a win for your privacy. The government can't vacuum up sensitive location data from your cellphone without a warrant, the court ruled. Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social explain why this matters.

Right now, the only thing holding back most police from deploying armed drones and robots is the policies of companies and the social stigma surrounding the issue. Neither of these will hold forever. We need regulation. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Lawmakers Must Act Now to Prevent Armed Police Drones

This is not science fiction. It’s not premature. If towns, cities, states, or the federal government want to act to reign in the emergence of armed police drones and robots, we have precious little

eff.org

The accused were brought before federal judges and told they could spend years in federal prison. But then, a WW review of the cases has found, most of them came to nothing.

Protesters Arrested Outside ICE Faced Daunting Prison Sentences—and Mostly Ended Up With Short Probations

Julian Balsley

wweek.com

Critically important NEW report from Earthrights International about the FARCE of a trial in the ET v Greenpeace case over Standing Rock. This is an EXTREME threat to #freespeech in the U.S. Read this report, it will BLOW YOUR MIND! earthrights.org/unreasonable...

Unreasonable, Extreme and Excessive: The Case for Overturning a North Dakota Court's $345 Million Judgement Against Greenpeace | EarthRights International

Between August 2016 and February 2017, tens of thousands of people came to North Dakota to protest a crude oil pipeline that a Texas-based fossil fuel corporation called Energy Transfer was building n...

earthrights.org

"This case should have been dismissed before going to trial" #Slapps #greenpeace

Unreasonable, Extreme and Excessive: The Case for Overturning a North Dakota Court's $345 Million Judgement Against Greenpeace | EarthRights International

Between August 2016 and February 2017, tens of thousands of people came to North Dakota to protest a crude oil pipeline that a Texas-based fossil fuel corporation called Energy Transfer was building n...

earthrights.org

Protect the Protest coalition member @nlg.org has moved their Know Your Rights booklet online! Take a look and bookmark it: www.nlg.org/kyr-booklet/

Know Your Risks Booklet - National Lawyers Guild

Updated October 2025 Order KYR Booklet Written below is an online version of our latest KYR booklet. What Rights Do I Have? Whether or not you're a U.S. citizen, you have legal rights under the United...

nlg.org

These times call for courage, and thankfully those who stand up against fascism have organizations like @nlg.org to support them when they are targeted. Learn more in #ProtectTheProtest's newest member spotlight story ➡️ www.protecttheprotest.org/stories/member-spotlight-national-lawyers-guild

"Most of the resistance to fascism comes from our own networks, communities & political relationships. Because if the federal government comes to your door & you don't know who to call or what group to ask for help, you might be disappeared." New Member Spotlight with @nlg.org! 👇 #ProtectTheProtest

Member Spotlight: National Lawyers Guild — Protect the Protest

National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Director of Mass Defense Xavier T. de Janon spoke with Protect the Protest about the NLG network of lawyers, law students, and legal workers’ work to protect social moveme...

protecttheprotest.org

The FBI Director sued a magazine for $250 million. Here’s why Patel vs. @theatlantic.com should concern everyone who cares about first amendment rights and a free press. 🧵👇 #StopSLAPPs #ProtectTheProtest

SLAPPs 🤝 Authoritarianism #StopSLAPPs #ProtectTheProtest

Nick Young@nickofnz.bsky.social · 4mo ago

How corporate Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation ( #Slapps ) uphold authoritarianism, via @greenpeaceusa.bsky.social www.greenpeace.org/usa/how-slap...

#TodayInProtestHistory: April 22, 1970 was the first Earth Day 🌎 Fifty six years ago today, 20 million Americans (1 in 10 people in this country!) flooded city streets, college campuses, and town squares to participate in the demand for clean air, clean water, and a livable planet.

We can't list everything wrong with this lawsuit but here's one: Patel says The Atlantic should have filed FOIAs before reporting. The FBI’s average FOIA response time is two years.

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker@pressfreedomtracker.us · 4mo ago

FBI director Kash Patel sued @theatlantic.com and reporter @sfifz787.bsky.social in federal court today for allegedly defaming him in an article that quotes sources calling his excessive drinking and unexplained absences from office a national security vulnerability.

@recommon.org won't back down and we will stand in solidarity with them!

@recommon.org · 4mo ago

🔴 ReCommon condemns ENI’s decision to file yet another frivolous lawsuit against the association in an attempt to silence its representatives. 👇 www.recommon.org/en/new-slapp...

I wrote about the Prairieland trial, the first to pilot the White House’s theory that antifa is a vector for terrorism. The case is a dangerous escalation in the admin's war against the left. Yet it also highlights a longer history... lpeproject.org/blog/guilty-...

The power of the people is rooted in the ability of the free press to investigate and report news, especially in times of war.

Trump threatens to jail journalists in hunt to find leaker of Iran fighter jet story

In a news conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine, Trump touted the rescue of two U.S. airmen whose jet was shot down over Iran.

nbcnews.com

Trump is threatening to eliminate the people of Iran overnight. Years of normalizing genocidal rhetoric and mass violence has brought us to this cataclysmic moment.

I don’t know about you…but jailing journalists for protecting sources sounds a lot like something that starts with an “A” and ends with “tarian.” Clearly this isn’t isolated. It’s part of a relentless, calculated attempt to erode press freedom. Our democracy is in danger.

President Donald Trump’s apocalyptic warning that Iran's “whole civilization will die tonight” is a threat to commit war crimes and may constitute a threat to commit genocide. The international community must take urgent action to avert an impending catastrophe. Read more 👇

Iran: President Trump’s apocalyptic threats of large-scale civilian devastation demand urgent global action to prevent atrocity crimes

Responding to the United States President Donald Trump’s statement about Iran on Truth Social on 7 April 2026, warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again”, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International said: “President Trump’s very act of making such apocalyptic threats, including his warning of ending ‘a […]

amn.st

It was just round 1. It is not over. It’s time to resist. We will APPEAL this ruling in North Dakota. Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit is a billionaire-backed attack on the right to protest. We won’t back down. Learn more: www.greenpeace.org/usa/what-tod... #TimeToResist

What today’s judgment means for Greenpeace USA - Greenpeace

A final judgment has officially been entered in Big Oil company Energy Transfer’s massive lawsuit against us.

greenpeace.org

A North Dakota judge ordered @greenpeace.org to pay $345 million in damages to the pipeline company Energy Transfer caused by protest actions in 2016/17. This is a textbook #SLAPP – a strategic lawsuit against public participation, designed to silence dissent through crushing legal costs. A 🧵

#StopSLAPPs

Greenpeace USA@greenpeaceusa.bsky.social · 5mo ago

It was just round 1. It is not over. It’s time to resist. We will APPEAL this ruling in North Dakota. Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit is a billionaire-backed attack on the right to protest. We won’t back down. Learn more: www.greenpeace.org/usa/what-tod... #TimeToResist

This is a blatant attempt to silence resistance, at a time when our right to protest is more important than ever. We stand boldly and unequivocally with our #ProtectTheProtest coalition member, Greenpeace.

Greenpeace USA@greenpeaceusa.bsky.social · 5mo ago

BREAKING: A US court has just sided with fossil fuel pipeline giant Energy Transfer and ordered Greenpeace International and Greenpeace entities in the US to pay them US$ 345 million. This is a billionaire-backed attack on the right to protest. A thread ⤵️🧵

#TodayInProtestHistory: On February 28, 1969 we remember a powerful moment when the #BlackPanther Party mobilized at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia to resist legislation designed to suppress their organizing and undermine their right to bear arms and assemble.

#TodayInProtestHistory 2/27/1973 marked the beginning of the #WoundedKnee Occupation, when members of the American Indian Movement took a stand at the location of the 1890 massacre to demand the U.S. honor its Treaties & investigate corruption & violence impacting Indigenous Peoples on Pine Ridge.