civil liberty

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civil liberty

the right of an individual to certain freedoms of speech and action. Now often mediated through HUMAN RIGHTS law.

References in periodicals archive ?

Having helped found the new organization yet staying active in the older one, Emerson was among the few civil libertarians of stature on speaking terms with both.

Emerson, Thomas

A growing number of journalists and civil libertarians argue that the legal protections first created by Sullivan are too weak.

How to stop libel suits and still protect individual reputation

So, for example, the major role played by the civil libertarians in reproductive-freedom issues is mentioned much less than the fact that some feminists would like to use the law to attack pornography, and all civil libertarians think that's an infringement on the First Amendment.

Katha Pollitt

Central to this tradition was the view that "that government governs best that governs least' " We can see the descendants of classical liberalism today in two disparate groups: free-traders and private-property-rightist like George Bush and Dan Quayle, columnist George Will, and Ron Arnold of the Wise Use Movement on the one hand; and civil libertarians, pro-pornography advocates, and sexual liberals like Madonna, Camille Paglia, Hugh Hefner, Bob Gucccione, and the American Civil Liberties Union on the other.

To choose or not to choose: a politics of choice

That's good news for civil libertarians across the political spectrum.

Mr. Paul speaks in Washington

A group of civil libertarians led by a University of Texas law student wants to teach people how to use 3-D printing technologies to make their own guns at home.

Audio: Gun-Printing Project Catches Eye of Law Enforcement

The first surveys the synergy between liberals and the broader left, showing alliances with radical socialists and civil libertarians, but also the eventual gap between traditions of social reform and whether it can be closed.

Making sense of American liberalism

For civil libertarians, Barack Obama has proven to be a nightmare.

U.S. safer 10 years after 9/11, but at what cost?

Civil libertarians say the fundamental problem with iris scans is the same as with many other high-tech "solutions" to the terrorist problem: They presume all people are guilty until proven innocent, making it one of the most costly and ineffective efforts directed at thwarting crimes.

Iris scan coming to airports, focusing terror hunt on the innocent

Melbourne, Aug 31 (ANI): Civil libertarians have raised their voices against US officials using "invasive and aggressive" searches for those who refuse to go through their controversial full body "naked" X-ray scanners.

US officials face flak over new invasive airport searches

Bush's administration for employing harsh interrogation techniques on detainees captured in the "global war on terror," many of the world's most respected civil libertarians are calling for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the alleged abuses.

Rights groups back independent commission to probe US abuses

As with the government's proposed national identity cards, many civil libertarians will resent what they see as another invasion of privacy.