The Internal Revenue Service must hand over former President Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, dismissing a long-running legal challenge to block tax officials from complying with a request for the records from Democratic lawmakers.
A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously sided with the Biden administration and the House Ways and Means Committee, ruling against Trump’s arguments against the committee’s authority, his privacy concerns and his claim that complying with the request would be unconstitutional.
“The 2021 Request seeks information that may inform the United States House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means as to the efficacy of the Presidential Audit Program, and therefore, was made in furtherance of a subject upon which legislation could be had,” Judge David Sentelle wrote in the panel’s opinion.
“Further, the Request did not violate separation of powers principles under any of the potentially applicable tests primarily because the burden on the Executive Branch and the Trump Parties is relatively minor.”
Sentelle was appointed by former President Reagan. The two other judges on the panel, Karen Henderson and Robert Wilkins, were appointed by former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Obama, respectively.
Attorneys representing Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Ways and Means spokesman also did not immediately respond when asked for comment, but the committee said on Twitter that it expects to “receive the requested tax returns and audit files immediately.”
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the chairman of the committee, first requested the tax returns from the Treasury Department in 2019. When the Trump administration refused to comply with the request, the House committee sued in federal court later that year.
After the Biden administration took over last year, the Justice Department reversed its legal position in the case and tax officials were ordered to comply with the request, prompting Trump to file a motion in his personal capacity to try to prevent the documents from being turned over.
Federal tax law requires Treasury officials to hand over individual tax returns upon receiving a written request from the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that the law is unconstitutional and that compliance with the request would pose First Amendment and separation of powers concerns.
But the three-judge panel on Tuesday rejected those arguments as well as the former president’s allegations that the request, and the willingness to comply, is improper because of the political motivations of the two branches.
“While it is possible that Congress may attempt to threaten the sitting President with an invasive request after leaving office, every President takes office knowing that he will be subject to the same laws as all other citizens upon leaving office,” the decision reads. “This is a feature of our democratic republic, not a bug.”
U.K. marine conservation charity Shark Guardian has recently exposed potential shark finning and other malpractices on MSC-certified tuna fishing vessels in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.
This runs contrary to the commitment made in 2011 by the MSC board to ensure that fisheries engaged in shark finning would not be eligible for MSC certification.
Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods.
In 2021, a popular – and highly divisive – Netflix documentary, “Seaspiracy,” highlighted the significant environmental impact of the fishing industry and put into question whether seafood products could be described as truly sustainable. Although its claims have since been contested by several scientists and conservationists, the film has brought to the fore the potential shortcomings of sustainable seafood labels, including that by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
The MSC is the world’s largest fishing certification program with its widely known blue tick sustainability label and its certified fisheries representing around 17 percent of the world’s total wild marine harvest. With more than a third of the world’s fish stocks currently fished at an unsustainable level, the MSC aims to combat overfishing by encouraging consumers to choose seafood that’s caught sustainably. Sustainable fishing refers to practices which ensure healthy fish stocks and the long-term survival of marine and freshwater ecosystems and wildlife.
The MSC assesses fisheries against 28 performance indicators under the three principles of the MSC Fisheries Standard – sustainability of the stock, ecosystem impacts, including the protection of other species and habitats, and effective management. 60 out of 100 is a minimum acceptable score to get certified but if a fishery scores below 80, conditions of improvement will be put in place such as reducing bycatch or improving fishery management. Fisheries are then audited annually and the certificate is reassessed every five years, including whether it has fulfilled its conditions of improvement.
Allegations of shark finning on MSC-certified vessels
U.K. marine conservation charity Shark Guardian has, however, recently exposed potential shark finning and other malpractices on MSC-certified tuna fishing vessels in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. This runs contrary to the commitment made in 2011 by the MSC board to ensure that fisheries engaged in shark finning would not be eligible for MSC certification.
Photos from the report, conducted in partnership with sustainability consulting firm CNS Global Consulting, show numerous carcasses of silky sharks with their fins removed, as well as discarded whale sharks, giant manta rays and devil rays.
Photo credit: Shark Guardian
Some of the other incidents identified by the investigation include fishing nets being deliberately cast close to whale and whale shark populations, and bycatch of sharks and cetaceans ending up dead and discarded due to negligence.
If protected species are caught unintentionally but are released immediately and in a responsible manner that would cause as little harm to them as possible, the case would not be viewed as a violation of the MSC standard. However, if they are neglected, left to die onboard or in the net, or if fishing nets are set in their close proximity, these incidents would be considered infringements.
Observer reports of these incidents and other violations of the MSC standard were routinely ignored by the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs), the independent auditing entities of the MSC standard, the investigation alleged.
Upon being notified of the report, the MSC has asked Assurance Services International (ASI), the accreditation body overseeing its third-party certification activities, to investigate the claims raised by the report. Additional audits are also conducted of the fisheries referenced in the report in the Solomon Islands and the PNA region.
“This investigation will include a full examination of the evidence presented in the report and include ASI witnessing any expedited audits triggered by new information in the report to determine whether the fisheries are complying with the requirements of the MSC Fisheries Standard. Reports from these witness assessments will be made public,” shared a spokesperson from the MSC.
Photo credit: Shark Guardian
“Should evidence that fisheries have failed to fully meet the requirements of MSC certification be found as part of these reviews, outcomes for the fisheries may be the addition of conditions of certification, suspension or the removal of the vessel responsible.”
According to the MSC, the period covered by the Shark Guardian investigation predates its new requirements introduced in 2020 which would suspend fisheries engaged in shark finning unless the offending vessel is removed from the certificate. Any organization which had been convicted of shark finning in the previous two years would also not be eligible for MSC certification.
Previously, fisheries would only need to demonstrate the likelihood that there was no shark finning taking place on their vessels through external validation or the existence of relevant policies or regulations.
“We will patiently wait for the outcome of the ASI/MSC investigation which ASI has told us should be wrapped up in mid-September. Until that time, we are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the MSC process,” said Alex Hofford, Marine Wildlife Campaigner and Trustee at Shark Guardian.
Separately, in June 2022, following four years of review, the MSC board has approved a new Fisheries Standard, introducing a Fins Naturally Attached policy as a prerequisite for certification. The policy mandates all fisheries that retain sharks to land them with their fins still attached to the body. The MSC said that the policy would contribute to further strengthening its efforts to ensure that no shark finning occurs within its certified fisheries.
“As regards the new MSC Standard, I worry that the failure to remove loopholes, address systemic conflicts of interest between CABs and those fishery clients who pay them, will result in a dismal failure to deliver urgently needed improvements on the water to put an end to the practice of environmentally damaging and polluting fisheries being certified when they clearly should not, and will not protect endangered, threatened and protected species,” commented Hofford.
Photo credit: Shark Guardian
Challenges of sustainable seafood certification
The Shark Guardian investigation is not the first to scrutinize the legitimacy of the sustainable seafood label. MSC has come under increased pressure in recent years both for not being stringent enough in its certification process, and for being inaccessible to smaller-scale fisheries who would not have the resources to get certified. The MSC has responded that it has programs in place to support fisheries which “lack the evidence, governance or practices needed to achieve MSC certification,” including small-scale fisheries and fisheries in developing countries.
Others have highlighted the insufficient requirements put in place to incentivize fisheries to reduce or eliminate bycatch of endangered species, its inability to police compliance with its standard, and that commercial motives take precedence over sustainability considerations in the design of the MSC standard.
“The MSC is one of many organisations working to influence and safeguard our oceans,” said the MSC. “We aim to bring disparate groups together using a science-based standard to help drive recognition for sustainable fisheries and market demand for their catch. Our programme is voluntary. We do not, and cannot, take the place of strong ocean governance by international government bodies – the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations — which are responsible for setting and policing regulations which ensure ongoing sustainability of fishing operations.”
Photo credit: Shark Guardian
Reforming sustainable seafood
Boycotting labels such as the MSC or stopping the consumption of seafood altogether – one of the underlying messages of “Seaspiracy,” however, could have unintended consequences for the more than 200 million people employed by marine fisheries directly or indirectly. With over three billion people depending on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods, it’s more critical than ever to reform the way the fishing industry operates in general and sustainability certifications in particular, advocates say.
Importantly, for certified sustainable seafood to become a truly trusted concept would require a more robust definition of what’s considered sustainable, including more precautionary catch limits and harvest quotas for fish species, and increased accountability over how fish are caught and bycatch is mitigated, advocates say.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) weighed in on the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, arguing it could “undermine” the legitimacy of the Department of Justice’s broader investigations into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The search reportedly focused on the retention of classified material, in connection with Trump’s failure to turn over some presidential records at the end of his term, instead taking them to his Florida home.
“DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations,” Cuomo tweeted.
Former President Donald Trump announced on Monday that his Florida home had been raided after the FBI executed a search warrant.
“My beautiful home Mar A Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” wrote Trump.
The search of Trump’s home follows a summer of high-profile hearings from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which aimed to place Trump at the center of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
The Department of Justice has continued its own probe of the events on and around Jan. 6, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has pledged to prosecute anyone who acted illegally in those efforts.
Political figures across the political spectrum have been reacting to the Mar-a-Lago raid since news of the operation broke Monday evening.
Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin on Tuesday said the FBI’s raid could have “handed” Trump the presidency in 2024.
“If it’s seen as some sort of massive overreach and not something incredibly serious, this is a very good day for Donald Trump,” she said.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and businessman Andrew Yang saying that it will be “excellent campaign material” for Trump, who has yet to officially announce a run in 2024.
“It looks increasingly like the FBI raid was to find mishandled classified documents and not some other DOJ investigation which was my first thought. Mishandling documents doesn’t seem like raid material,” Yang tweeted.
“It does however seem like excellent campaign material for Trump.”
In 2015 the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement set up a sham university in Michigan to target student visa fraud.
However, students caught in the scheme—most of whom were of Indian descent—- allege there was no way of discerning the fake university from a real one.
The scam went so far as to collect tuition payments and fees from students and mail I-20 Certificates of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, more than 40 organizations call for an investigation into a sham university set up by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2015.
Through the University of Farmington scheme, created to expose student visa fraud, ICE entrapped around 600 individuals who were detained without due process and seized over $6 million worth of tuition fees, according to a press release from the National Immigraiton Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG).
The majority of individuals targeted were of Indian descent, save one prospective student of Palestinian descent.
Changing America has reached out to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for comment.
Following a 2019 announcement that the school was a sting operation, “ICE began terminating students’ immigration status, claiming that any student who enrolled in the University had knowingly participated in visa fraud,” according to the letter.
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But students maintain there was no way of knowing the university was fake or had any discernible factors distinguishing it from a real university, as it established a physical address, maintained a professional website, issued offers of acceptance, and accepted tuition payments, among other actions. It even mailed students I-20 Certificates of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status.
The University of Farmington was also marketed as a Michigan institution authorized by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program that allows the admittance of foreign students, according to the complaint.
The letter is signed by a myriad of organizations including South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), the Center for Security, Race and Rights, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, and the Japanese American Citizens League, among many others.
Students caught in the scheme allege the U.S. government preyed upon them when they were in vulnerable situations.
“Regardless of presidential administrations, the exploitation and criminalization of immigrants continues. ICE set up this fake university to bait and trap immigrant students under the Obama Administration. They were exposed under the Trump Administration and should finally be held accountable now by the Biden Administration,” said Lakshmi Sridaran, executive director of SAALT in a statement.
“These students were specifically targeted for their national origin, a trademark of DHS. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta has the power to immediately restore the over six million dollars in tuition money stolen from these students. By doing so, she could begin to improve the current administration’s dismal track record on immigration,” Sridaran continued.
Others condemned the use of taxpayer money to entrap students and the subsequent profit made by DHS when it collected students’ tuition payments.
A similar sting played out in New Jersey in 2013, ultimately implicating over 1000 students. A legal settlement was reached between the government and plaintiffs in January 2022 following a class-action lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the government is liable for $450,000 in legal fees, while individuals whose visas were overturned may have their removal canceled by DHS.
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The FBI on Monday searched the Mar-a-Lago estate of former President Trump, a dramatic step that has increased speculation about the former president being in legal jeopardy.
The search, which reportedly focused on the retention of classified material, comes as Trump is under scrutiny in a flurry of investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, his pressure campaign against election officials in Georgia and his business dealings in New York.
It also comes against the backdrop of Trump considering a White House bid in 2024.
Here’s what we know about the search.
What the FBI was doing
The FBI entered Mar-a-Lago after securing a search warrant from a federal magistrate judge after demonstrating probable cause supporting their suspicion of criminal activity.
While Trump did not detail what the warrant sought, he complained agents who searched his property “even broke into my safe.”
The search in part appears to be in connection with Trump’s failure to turn over some presidential records at the end of his term, instead taking them to his Florida home.
Authorities previously retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago, a tranche that included classified materials.
The Justice Department referred the case to the FBI earlier this year after receiving a request from the National Archives to investigate the matter.
What Trump is saying
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the FBI search, as he typically spends summers at his Bedminster, N.J., property. But he decried the action as politically motivated in order to deter him from running for president again in 2024.
“Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before. They even broke into my safe!” Trump said in a statement Monday night.
Trump has for years framed federal investigators as politically biased and out to get him, and he likened Monday’s search to the investigation into ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign.
Eric Trump said his father had an ‘open-door policy.’
Eric Trump, the son of the former president, confirmed on Fox News that the search was related to document retention, but he downplayed any potential wrongdoing by his father.
“My father saves clippings and things like that. So he had boxes, right, when he moved out of the White House,” Eric Trump said. “And he was very collaborative. You want to search for anything, if you think anything — like, you know, come right ahead. I mean, it was an open-door policy. And all of a sudden, 30 agents descend upon Mar-a-Lago?”
Former Trump administration officials have said the former president often disregarded protocols for maintaining classified documents.
How the GOP is reacting
Top Republicans erupted with anger at the search, and vowed retaliation.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a statement that the Justice Department “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” and that should Republicans take the chamber after the November midterms, the House would investigate Attorney General Merrick Garland and the department.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, on Fox News Monday night called on Garland and FBI Director Christopher Way to come testify on Friday.
Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has some tension with the former president as both men angle for potential 2024 presidential bids, called the search “another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents.”
Some prominent voices are absent.
Republicans lobbed intense fury at the Department of Justice over the raid, but some top GOP voices were notably absent from the wave of anger and promises of investigation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other top Senate Republicans had not commented on the search as of Tuesday morning.
What it means for the Jan. 6 probe
It’s not clear what the search means for the Justice Department’s broader investigation into the Capitol riot, but its probe is rapidly accelerating following months of complaints from lawmakers of stagnation when it comes to Trump.
In recent weeks, the Justice Department has been focusing on Trump’s efforts to remain in power through a false elector scheme, transmitting what campaign officials referred to as “fake” election certificates in order to reverse the 2020 election in key states won by President Biden.
That includes convening a federal grand jury and sitting down with a number of former White House officials, including advisers to former Vice President Mike Pence.
Last week, Trump’s former White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, was reportedly called to testify before a federal grand jury, as was his deputy Patrick Philbin.
Earlier this summer, the Justice Department also seized the phone of John Eastman, who crafted memos for the campaign detailing the false elector strategy as well as a plan for Pence to buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results. And it also searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general whom Trump weighed installing as attorney general so he could forward an investigation into his baseless claims of election fraud.
What it means for Trump running for reelection
It could advance Trump’s timeline to announce.
Trump has openly floated running for president again in 2024, saying in an interview last month it was more a matter of whether he should announce before or after the November midterms.
Some pundits speculated that Trump could use the FBI search to announce his candidacy at a time when Republicans are rallying in his defense and when it would allow him to maximize the argument that any investigations are politically motivated.
The FBI search is likely to solidify support for Trump among his base voters, who already believe the Justice Department is biased against conservatives in the wake of the Russia probe.
But the search and any resulting evidence that becomes public could make a comeback bid more difficult for Trump in a general election.
Polls show narrow Biden edge in a hypothetical match-up.
Multiple polls in recent weeks have found roughly half of Americans already believe Trump should face criminal charges for his actions around the Jan. 6 riot.
A New York Times poll released last month found that despite Biden’s approval ratings sinking to 33 percent, he still led Trump in a hypothetical 2024 match-up, 44 percent to 41 percent.
Micron Technology plans to invest $40 billion in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing after Congress approved massive chip subsidies, the company said Tuesday.
The Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker said that the investment will create 40,000 new jobs, 5,000 highly paid technical and operational roles, and bring the “world’s most advanced memory manufacturing” to the U.S.
The announcement came as executives at Micron and other chipmakers joined President Biden at Tuesday’s signing of the CHIPS and Science Act, which will provide $76 billion in subsidies to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.
Lawmakers approved the bipartisan bill late last month in a bid to reduce the nation’s reliance on Taiwan, China and other foreign countries for semiconductors that are used in electronics, weapon systems, cars and even appliances.
“This legislation will enable Micron to grow domestic production of memory from less than 2 percent to up to 10 percent of the global market in the next decade, making the U.S. home to the most advanced memory manufacturing and R&D in the world,” Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a statement.
Intel announced in January that it would build a $20 billion Ohio semiconductor facility that was contingent on new subsidies. Chipmakers GlobalFoundries and TSMC have also announced new investments.
Chip manufacturers spent record sums on lobbying this year to push for the manufacturing subsidies and warned lawmakers that they might pull their plans to increase U.S. investment if the chip bill didn’t pass before the August recess.
In recent decades, American chipmakers shipped chip manufacturing jobs overseas to Asian countries that offered lucrative subsidies. The U.S. invented the first semiconductors but currently only produces about 10 percent of the world’s chips, down from 40 percent in 1990.
“To the innovators, job creators and workers who have witnessed the slow erosion of America’s semiconductor industry, we will bring these jobs back to our shores and end our dependence on foreign chips,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at Tuesday’s signing ceremony.
President Biden signed into law on Tuesday bipartisan legislation to provide billions of dollars in incentives to the domestic semiconductor industry and fund scientific research that proponents say will help boost U.S. competitiveness and solve supply chain challenges.
The bill — formally known as the CHIPS and Science Act — passed the Senate and House at the end of July, after more than a year of work on Capitol Hill and multiple iterations of the legislation.
The bill includes more than $50 billion in incentives for manufacturers of semiconductors, or chips, to build domestic semiconductor plants. It also includes over $80 billion for the National Science Foundation authorized over five years to support innovation and research.
The White House has billed the legislation as a solution to supply chain challenges laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which a global chip shortage caused delays in automobile and electronic production. Chips are used in everything from cars to cellphones to weapons.
The new legislation is designed to increase domestic production of semiconductors over the long term to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign suppliers. Proponents also say it will help the U.S. compete with China, which has its own chip market.
The passage of the bill represented a major bipartisan win for the Biden administration. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and other officials have been pressing Congress to act quickly on the legislation, arguing it is in the interest of national and economic security.
“By making more semiconductors in the United States, this bill will increase domestic manufacturing and lower costs for families,” Biden said in a statement Thursday hailing the bill’s passage.
“And, it will strengthen our national security by making us less dependent on foreign sources of semiconductors,” Biden continued. “This bill includes important guardrails to ensure that companies receiving tax payer dollars invest in America and that union workers are building new manufacturing plants across the country.”
The Senate approved it on July 27 in a bipartisan 64-33 vote, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and 16 other Republicans voting in favor of it.
However, the House GOP encouraged members to vote against the legislation after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced an agreement on a larger climate and healthcare spending package shortly following the upper chamber’s passage of the chips bill.
McConnell had threatened Republican votes for the chips bill if Democrats moved forward with the larger package – which they intend to pass with a simple majority in the Senate through a process known as budget reconciliation – and House Republican leaders moved to oppose the chips bill once it became clear there was a deal on the reconciliation bill.
Not all Republicans in the House followed directions from leadership, however, and 24 ultimately voted for the semiconductor bill the day after it passed the Senate.
With the bill signed into law, the Biden administration will now go about implementing the legislation.
White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese told reporters at a recent press briefing that the bill would have near immediate impacts on decisions by companies to stand up operations in the U.S. But he acknowledged the impact on the domestic supply chain would be longer term.
“This is a long-term project, a long-term national project, that is a vital economic and national security consequence, and the ultimate impact of that will be felt over the course of years,” Deese said.
Digital privacy laws are not ready for a post-Roe v. Wade future. New bills circulating on the Hill are an important step toward safeguarding Americans’ personal data, but they are not a panacea to protect women seeking an abortion or the friends and family members who might be supporting them, or even just know of their intentions.
It’s no secret that today, personal and health data about human preferences, location, characteristics and behavior are collected through phones, apps, websites, advertisements, internet sites and service providers; if a device is connected to the internet, it probably collects user data. These data are used to provide helpful information and services, but as the United States lacks universal digital privacy protections, firms are solely responsible for data privacy and security.
At the same time, law enforcement has wide latitude to purchase and request personal data from companies. They can obtain a court order about a particular crime and companies are obliged to provide information related to the crime, some companies have made special portals to more easily provide data. Even without a court order, law enforcement can purchase bulk data from data brokers about suspected crimes or general surveillance. These data can contain location information, internet searches queries, among other personal information. Companies can push back but with a court order or subpoena are obliged to comply with law enforcement.
Surveillance of this nature has historically enjoyed wide support as protection against terrorism and other societal harms. But the combination of prolific personal data collection and law enforcement surveillance are predicated on the assurance that data about everyday interactions and behaviors are not under scrutiny by law enforcement. The overturning of Roe v. Wade calls this trust into question.
Since the ruling, trigger laws in eight states have banned abortion, and an additional five states plan to ban the procedure within the month. The bans fall largely along partisan lines, and they come with a side of additional surveillance.
A Texas law, with Florida and Ohio seeking to copy it, allows individual citizens to sue someone who got an abortion or assisted someone in getting one. Justice Thomas wrote in the majority opinion that the ruling would not prevent individuals from crossing state lines to access abortion care. But there is no guarantee that they will not be prosecuted when re-entering their state, particularly when new investigations show that data brokers are selling Planned Parenthood location information to law enforcement.
The surveillance laws create a quagmire around sensitive data related to reproductive health, and there are no bills currently under consideration by Congress that will protect health data from law enforcement seeking to prosecute abortion-related crimes.
To be clear, the digital privacy bills and health privacy bills under consideration in Congress – the American Data Portability and Protection Act (ADPPA), the My Body My Choice Act and the Fourth Amendment Isn’t For Sale Act – would increase digital privacy rights for all Americans. The first two would minimize data collected by tech firms, allow users to more easily opt-out of data collection, access and delete data held by firms and facilitate transparency on third-party data transfers. Whereas the Fourth Amendment Isn’t for Sale Act would prevent law enforcement from mass purchases of personal data used for surveillance purposes.
Securing data, however, is challenging because it requires technical solutions not currently reflected in digital privacy bills. One security idea would be to treat health data similarly to mobile pay, whereby all information about personal health could be stored on a device and not transmitted to firms. Additionally, lawmakers have the opportunity to establish clear standards for the anonymization of the most sensitive data, even if it affects data analysis, using techniques like differential privacy, which adds statistical noise to datasets.
Companies are responding with support for health privacy and may be able to deny certain data requests or offer certain settings for consumers to turn off sensitive data collection. But without universal digital privacy protections, data collection can easily be hidden from consumers; if one company denies the request, another company might also have the data and disclose it.
Some groups call for deleting apps that help monitor their reproductive health or not using technology if it might provide data for law enforcement. Not only is this bad for businesses, which may be sued for assisting employees with reproductive-related care, but it also may bar people of all genders, including men who may be caught in the crossfire, from the benefits of technology, which is no solution at all.
I am not calling for the end of surveillance for security purposes, but the future of digital privacy policies is uncertain. Pro-choice lawmakers may seek to suggest additional privacy measures, such as the ones touched on here, whereas pro-life lawmakers likely will want to permit law enforcement continued access to company health data.
Passing the new digital privacy bills is an important step in protecting digital privacy in the United States. But the country is entering a new era whereby data collected by beneficial digital tools may now be used for harm. This must inform how we approach data that could be surveilled. In a liberal democracy, women seeking abortion must have the right to use technology to monitor their basic health functions without fear that the data will be used against their own freedom as well as the freedom of their friends and families.
Jordan Shapiro is an economic and data policy analyst at the Progressive Policy Institute.
Hillary Clinton is poking fun at Donald Trump, highlighting her “But Her Emails” merchandise in the wake of the FBI executing a search warrant on the former president’s Florida home.
“Every ‘But her emails’ hat or shirt sold helps [Onward Together] partners defend democracy, build a progressive bench, and fight for our values,” the former secretary of State wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
“Just saying!” Clinton said.
The tweet came the morning after Trump said in a Monday night statement, “My beautiful home Mar A Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”
The search appeared to be focused on records that Trump brought with him to his Florida estate after leaving the White House, according to multiple news reports.
The stunning development wasn’t the first time Clinton promoted her “But Her Emails” product line.
The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee — who faced scrutiny over her use of a personal email server while secretary of State — also hawked her hats in February after a report that Trump disposed of documents in the toilet of the White House. Photos of the plumbing-based document destruction were released on Monday.
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Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin on Tuesday said the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property could be the key to him winning the 2024 presidential election.
Griffin, in an appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” said she hoped the investigation is about more than Trump not complying with certain archiving laws and is more significant, or the Department of Justice (DOJ) “handed” Trump the Republican nomination and possibly the next presidential election.
“If it’s seen as some sort of massive overreach and not something incredibly serious, this is a very good day for Donald Trump,” she said.
The DOJ had reportedly asked the National Archives earlier this year to look into Trump’s handling of records after Archives officials recovered 15 boxes that Trump should have provided, including some containing classified information.
Griffin said if the documents that the FBI seized contain “vital national security” information, then they could pose a “grave national security risk” if they fell into the wrong hands or were released publicly.
She said Trump knows how to use the raid in his favor, as he essentially broke the news of the FBI raid, and she has seen consistent Republican messaging calling the country a “banana republic.” She said she hopes the DOJ is “buttoned-up” on the investigation.
Republicans have fiercely slammed the raid since Trump revealed it, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called for an investigation into the DOJ if Republicans retake control of the House in the November midterm elections.
Griffin said the “specificity” of the raid, knowing to look into Trump’s safe and for specific documents, might indicate that a witness who is close to Trump’s inner circle is cooperating and told officials where to look.
