Press Releases
NCLA’s Comments Challenge Proposed FCC Streamlining Rule That Would Rewrite Two Federal Statutes
Washington, D.C. -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) today filed comments to a proposed rule asking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to promulgate the “Streamlining Rule” which proposes to replace live testimony hearings with written record...
Eight Amici Join NCLA’s Cert. Petition With the Supreme Court to Nix Brand X Deference
Washington, D.C. – The New Civil Liberties Alliance is grateful for the overwhelming support our Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court has received. The petition seeks to overturn the so-called Brand X doctrine. Amici curiae, or friends of the...
USDA Withdraws Unlawful RFID Guideline After NCLA Files Lawsuit
R-CALF USA et.al, v. USDA et. al WASHINGTON, DC, October 29, 2019 — The New Civil Liberties Alliance is pleased that USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced that it does not currently intend to implement the Radio Frequency...
Florida Judge Greenlights NCLA Lawsuit Alleging Unconstitutional Use of Automatic License Plate Readers
Washington, DC— The Honorable Judge Abby Cynamon of Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court submitted an order allowing the New Civil Liberties Alliance to proceed with the lawsuit against the City of Coral Gables, Florida; the Florida Department of State (FDOS); and...
NCLA Calls Out CPSC for Hiding Infant Bath Seat Safety Behind a Paywall
Washington, D.C. – The New Civil Liberties Alliance has submitted a public comment opposing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposed regulation, Revisions to Safety Standard for Infant Bath Seats, on the basic premise that the law must be freely...
NCLA Commends White House’s Steps to Rein in Unlawful Agency Guidance
Washington, D.C. – Today, the White House issued two Executive Orders recognizing and addressing the problem of abusive regulatory guidance. “Bringing Guidance out of the Darkness” and “Transparency and Fairness” will force transparency and accountability upon federal...
Hamburger Group Sues to Protect Cattle Ranchers from USDA’s Unlawful RFID Animal Identification Mandate
Washington, D.C.--The New Civil Liberties Alliance today filed a complaint with the District Court of Wyoming against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, as well as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection...
NCLA Supports Petition to U.S. Supreme Court to Rein in D.C. Circuit’s Aggressive Expansion of Chevron Deference
Washington, D.C. -- Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners’ Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in Damien Guedes, et al. v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, et al. The case challenges...
NCLA Video Shows Problem with Use of License Plate Readers
Washington, D.C. – Today the New Civil Liberties Alliance released a case video featuring NCLA client Raul Mas Canosa that depicts the serious privacy concerns that surround automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). Canosa’s lawsuit against the City of Coral Gables,...
NCLA Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Uphold Landmark Civil Rights Precedent
Washington, D.C. – Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus brief supporting two Writs of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra and Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra. The Petitioners in these related...
NCLA Wins Stay Pending Appeal from Fifth Circuit in Post-Lucia SEC Case
Washington, D.C. – It took barely a couple of hours after oral argument on the motion in New Orleans, for a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to issue an order staying the SEC’s enforcement proceedings against NCLA client Michelle Cochran. The...
NCLA Files Petition with the U.S. Supreme Court Seeking to Abolish Brand X Deference
Washington, D.C., -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance today filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the so-called Brand X doctrine. Under the Court’s 2005 case, National Cable & Telecommunications Ass’n v. Brand X...
Watch: NCLA Releases Video Addressing Urgency to Protect Americans’ Civil Liberties from the Administrative State
Washington, DC (September 19, 2019) – The New Civil Liberties Alliance released the video “How NCLA Protects Americans from the Administrative State” to commemorate two years since we opened our doors. The new video explains NCLA’s mission to protect the...
NCLA Refutes Cornell University’s Motion to Dismiss Its Former Professor’s Title IX Lawsuit
Washington, D.C. -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance has filed a response opposing Cornell University’s Motion to Dismiss the Complaint NCLA submitted on behalf of Dr. Mukund Vengalattore last year. Professor Vengalattore, a former tenure-track physics professor at...
ATF Admits It Lacked Authority to Issue Legislative Rule, NCLA Condemns the Agency’s Attempt to Ban Bump Stocks Anyway
Washington, D.C. – Congress has not prohibited bump stocks, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has made them illegal with a Final Rule issued without statutory authority. In a noteworthy development, ATF’s latest court filing admits that...
NCLA Urges New York State Education Department to Do Away with Proposed Unconstitutional Regulations on Nonpublic Schools
Washington, D.C. – The New Civil Liberties Alliance has submitted a public comment in response to the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) proposed regulation, Substantially Equivalent Instruction for Nonpublic School Students, urging the Department to...
NCLA Asks Fifth Circuit to Recognize Jurisdiction Over Challenges to Unconstitutional Tribunals
Washington, D.C. – The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to reverse the district court decision to dismiss the Cochran v. SEC case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. NCLA’s reply brief on behalf of...
NCLA Questions Constitutionality of Arizona Department of Child Safety’s Administrative Proceedings
Washington, D.C. – The New Civil Liberties Alliance is taking a case to right a wrong committed by the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). A core principle of the American justice system holds that defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. But...
NCLA Asks Supreme Court to Renounce ‘Great Deference’ to EEOC Interpretations
Washington, D.C. -– Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the employers in three consolidated cases scheduled for oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court on October 8: Bostock v. Clayton Co., Georgia; Altitude Express,...
Federal Agencies Cannot Turn Blind Eye to Anti-Guidance Petitions
Washington, D.C. — Since July of 2018, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) has filed 18 anti-guidance petitions to federal agencies who too often regulate through “guidance” rather than following the process that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) mandates for...
NCLA Files Petition with CFTC to Amend Controversial ‘Gag’ Rule
Washington, D.C. —The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) today filed a petition asking the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to amend its controversial “Gag” Rule. The CFTC requires settling parties to agree that they will never make any public...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Should Call Out Constitutional Problems with Auer Deference
Washington, D.C. —The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit civil-rights organization and public-interest law firm, filed an amicus brief supporting the appellant in the case of Goldwater Institute v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before the U.S....
NCLA Challenges ED’s Title IX Guidance for Campus Disciplinary Proceedings
Washington, D.C. — The New Civil Liberties Alliance today filed a Memorandum of Law opposing the Department of Education’s Motion to Dismiss the Complaint NCLA filed last fall on behalf of Dr. Mukund Vengalattore. NCLA’s client was an assistant physics professor at...
NCLA Asks Court to Overturn SEC’s Lifetime Gag on Free Speech
Washington, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) “Gag” Rule is a regulation almost unique to the SEC. Since the Rule was created without notice and comment in 1972, it has managed to impact the freedom of speech of hundreds of Americans. Barry D....
SCOTUS Stumbles Again, Fails to Repudiate Grossly Unconstitutional Auer Deference
Court Must Stop Relying on Stare Decisis Crutch to Prop Up Problematic PrecedentWashington, D.C. — Today’s Supreme Court decision in Kisor v. Wilkie grants temporary victory to combat veteran James Kisor but nevertheless keeps Auer deference intact. Although the facts...
TTB’s Proposed Labeling Modernization Encroaches on Free Speech Rights of Alcohol-Beverage Producers & Consumers
Washington, D.C. — The New Civil Liberties Alliance submitted a public comment today in response to the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s proposed Labeling Modernization Rule. In TTB’s attempt to reform the overly burdensome Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) system...
Supreme Court’s Gundy Decision Leaves Door Ajar as to Limits on Congress’ Ability to Delegate Lawmaking to the Executive Branch
Dissenters in Gundy v. United States Agree with NCLA’s Amicus Brief, Cite to NCLA ScholarsWashington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Gundy v. United States in which it upheld the federal government’s authority under the Sex Offender...
NCLA Demands that Bureau of Prisons Follow the Law in Recalculating Prison Sentences for Thousands in Custody
Washington, D.C. — Robert Shipp has served his time and then some, but the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP) refuses to apply a statutory recalculation for “good time” credit to his sentence until July 19, 2019. The BOP has already recalculated Mr....
NCLA Asks Tenth Circuit to Determine Who Has the Constitutional Right to Change the Law in Bump Stock Case
Washington, D.C. — Whom does the Constitution allow to change the law when tragedy strikes? Today the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a brief on behalf of NCLA client Clark Aposhian, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to determine that it is...
NCLA Asks Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to Put an End to Unconstitutional SEC Hearings
Washington, D.C. — The New Civil Liberties Alliance today filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit asking to reverse the district court’s decision to dismiss the case of NCLA’s client, Michelle Cochran, for lack of subject-matter...