"On Tuesday, The Washington Post revealed that the Trump administration was using secretive "administrative subpoenas" to access the phone, e-mail, and social-media communications of US citizens who had criticized the government's anti-immigrant positions. The content of and rationale for the subpoenas aren't revealed to the targets. Instead, people are being sent vague legal notices from Google and other tech companies saying that the government has sought access to their accounts-making it all but impossible for them to challenge their validity."
"Government agents abusing these administrative subpoenas to target people for exercising their First Amendment rights is not only outrageous-it's unconstitutional," he argues. "Congress has given DHS the power to issue administrative subpoenas in specific kinds of customs and immigration enforcement investigations. But here, the government is violating the law by issuing these subpoenas-which don't involve approval by a judge-to investigate people for their lawful, protected speech."
Donald Trump projects a fantasy of remaining an all-conquering strongman even as many Americans reject him. The administration has used secretive administrative subpoenas to obtain phone, e-mail, and social-media communications of US citizens who criticized government anti-immigrant policies. Targets are not given the subpoenas' content or rationale and instead receive vague notices from tech companies, making meaningful legal challenge nearly impossible. The practice recalls Kafkaesque tactics used under authoritarian regimes. Civil liberties advocates assert the subpoenas exceed legal authority, bypass judicial approval, and unlawfully target protected First Amendment speech, eroding constitutional guarantees.
Read at The Nation
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