The Senate appears to be taking steps to reform the National Security Agency's unconstitutional domestic spying programs. The National Journal reports that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has filed for cloture on the stronger version of the USA FREEDOM Act introduced in July by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Since June 2013, Americans have been aware the National Security Agency's domestic spying program, through which it collects the telephony metadata of virtually every person with a cell phone in the United States. Intelligence officials claim authority for this privacy violating program through Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and a misinterpretation of a 1979 Supreme Court case, Smith v. Maryland. But what much of the public doesn't know about are violations of privacy occurring under Section 213 of the PATRIOT Act, the so-called "sneak-and-peek" provision.

In a troubling expansion of government snooping, a New York judge ruled Thursday that Microsoft has to open its servers to federal investigators. What’s concerning in this case is that the servers in question are not on U.S. soil—they are located in Ireland. In pursuit of information from Microsoft, the federal government pulled Microsoft into court to argue over the government's power to act through a warrant to access information stored on the company’s overseas servers.

No matter which circuit boundary you live in, the activism in the courts throughout the country affect you and your rights. Take a gander at the cases below to see the precedents being established that are threatening your civil liberties.

The House passed an amendment on June 19 to require the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant prior to collecting the communications of American citizens. This is pretty basic stuff, and it’s not a partisan issue - the amendment passed with the support of 158 Democrats and 135 Republicans.

Good news! The Email Privacy Act has reached 218 cosponsors!

In the final days before the deadline to sign HB 3399, FreedomWorks grassroots activists are sending thousands of messages to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to repeal Common Core in Oklahoma. The fate of education in Oklahoma rests in Governor Fallin’s hands, who needs to sign HB 3399 into law to stop the federal takeover of education.

When Blanche DuBois stepped off that streetcar named Desire and stepped into her sister’s rough French Quarter neighborhood, it was an era far different from our own. The New Orleans portrayed in Tennessee Williams’s iconic play wasn’t idyllic or gentle, but it had the charm of post-war cheerfulness. America had slogged through the Great Depression, won the fight against Hitler, and was rewarded with decades of prosperity. Stanley Fischer may have been a violent lout to his wife and sister-in-law, but there was a certain innocence to the time after the Great War’s sequel and before Lyndon Johnson’s guns-and-butter debauchery. Civil society was still a strong presence in American life and disputes were handled neighbor-to-neighbor. The idea of ubiquitous government surveillance in peacetime was alien.

If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

On today’s edition of the FreedomCast, CJ Ciaramella joins me to discuss the latest revelations in the IRS targeting scandal, whether the White House received confidential taxpayer information against the law and if there’s any chance the DoJ will act to protect your privacy.  Related Links: