what are some contemporary civil liberty issues?

Answer 1

Abortion
Same Sex Marriage
Immigration Reform
The Patriot Act

Answer 2

In the "war on terror":

1. Rendition: sending suspected terrorists to other countries where they might be tortured.

2. Wire tapping: the NSA "wiretaps" cell phone calls without a court warrant from the FISA court. Is this legal?

3. Torture: should "coercive" methods be used to extract information from suspected terrorists?

4. Habeaus Corpus: the 2006 Military Commissions Act allows the President of the US to declare ANYONE an enemy combatant and send them to a military tribunal where they have limited rights.

Those are a few!

Answer 3

Civil liberties deals primarily with those constitutional amendments that give Americans the right to freedom of religion, speech, to peaceably assemble, to carry arms, to be free of discrimination, and the rights to be free of search or seizures without probable cause.

The passage of the Patriot Act (by 99-1 vote in Senate) has allowed the government to infringe on several of these liberties with little or no probable cause.

Political correctness has reared its head at freedom of speech with a ferocity that is ridiculous. You can't hold civil dialogue without the someone saying you have offended them. Every interest group (NRA, ALCU, every political Party, Moveon.com, NOW, NAACP, all organized religions and alternative lifestyle groups) has their pet rights and pet peeves and God help you it you offend them.

Answer 4

I'd put the writ of hapeas corpus at the top of the list. It's your right, if you're arrested or detained, to know the charges against you and get a trial. Kinda basic. Oh, and it's pretty much gone as of Oct. 17, 2006. Just last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez told Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) during a Judicial Committee hearing that he did not think that all American citizens were guaranteed this right. So this is very much in play.

Privacy is another top issue. Privacy is threatened by commercial interests buying and selling your information, often legally or close to legally, data theft / data loss (the misplaced laptop scenario), scamming / phishing (getting people to release their own data to identity thieves), and law enforcement / national security spying. Under the USA Patriot Act and its successor, we have little protection because any one of us can be determined a national security threat, and the current law enforcement regime considers this a green light for any snooping (wiretaps and physical searches alike).

Equality is still under threat. Currently, there are many examples of successful and powerful women and people of color, but the advances have been slow and limited. There is an increasing sentiment in the United States that power should be limited to traditionally powerful groups - the wealthy, Europeans, Christians, men. For evidence, watch the backlash against Rep. Keith Ellison (D-WI), a Muslim, Sen. Barney Sanders (I-VT), who advocates for the poor and middle class, and Sen. Clinton of New York. You may already be familiar with the KSFO/Rush Limbaugh "Halfrican" attack on Sen. Obama (D-IL). Classy, aren't they? To me, it means that equality is still in the future.

Answer 5

Reverse discrimination.