Law

National

U.S. Charges NSA Leaker Snowden With Espionage

7:23pm June 21, 2013

The U.S. Justice Department has prepared the documents to formally charge Edward Snowden with espionage. Snowden is the former contractor who has publicized details about U.S. surveillance programs

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Jim Comey, then deputy attorney general, testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in 2005.

Obama's Pick To Lead FBI Adds New Layer To Privacy Debate

4:34am June 21, 2013

by Carrie Johnson

President Obama will nominate Jim Comey to be the country's next FBI director on Friday. Comey is best-known for raising alarms about a secret surveillance program during the Bush years. That issue has taken on new resonance after the latest revelations of government surveillance.

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Economy

Will Work For Free? The Future Of The Unpaid Internship

11:20am June 20, 2013

A New York Federal District Court judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures broke the law by not paying two interns for work on the film Black Swan. As a result, private employers may be considering revising their internship programs, or scrapping them altogether.

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Oglala Lakota activist Debra White Plume (left), tribal president Bryan Brewer (center) and other protesters create a blockade to prevent trucks from delivering beer to a liquor store in Whiteclay, Neb. The town, which borders the Pine Ridge Reservation,

National

A Dry Reservation Clashes With Its Liquor Store Neighbors

10:18pm June 19, 2013

by Charles Michael Ray

A conflict over alcohol is escalating in the tiny town of Whiteclay, Neb., which sells millions of cans of beer annually to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation. While protesters are trying to block beer deliveries to the town, some tribal leaders are considering legalizing alcohol at Pine Ridge.

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Why The FISA Court Is Not What It Used To Be

1:52pm June 18, 2013

by Nina Totenberg

President Obama says federal judges have been "overseeing" the recently exposed government surveillance programs. But few, if any, experts in the Bush or Obama administrations believe that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has the enforcement teeth it once had.

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Health & Safety

Conn. Law May Discourage Mental Illness Sufferers From Help

1:52pm June 18, 2013

by Craig LeMoult

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, states have taken steps to limit gun access for people with mental illness. In Connecticut, a new law requires psychiatric hospitals to report anyone who is voluntarily admitted, so the state can revoke any gun licenses they may hold. Some in the mental health community say it could prevent people from seeking psychiatric help.

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Supreme Court Rejects Arizona's Proof Of Citizenship Law

2:03pm June 17, 2013

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday tossed out an Arizona law that required proof of citizenship for its voters. In a 7-2 majority, the justices said the state's voter-approved Proposition 200 interfered with federal law. For more on the ruling, David Greene speaks with NPR's Carrie Johnson and Ron Elving.

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National

After SCOTUS DNA Ruling, What Changes For Police?

1:54pm June 17, 2013

The Supreme Court ruled in June that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested for comparison against a national database. The decision raises major questions about how law enforcement and criminal justice processes will change.

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Protesters gather outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to rally against the National Security Agency's recently detailed surveillance programs.

National

Privacy Past And Present: A Saga Of American Ambivalence

6:17pm June 16, 2013

by NPR Staff

American privacy concerns go back as far as the country's origins. Today, in the wake of major revelations about the scope of the National Security Agency's surveillance, polls show that feelings are still mixed.

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Will The Court's Gene Ruling Stifle Bio Innovation?

4:40pm June 15, 2013

Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with bioethicist Arthur Caplan of New York University about Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that isolated human genes may not be patented — and the implications for that ruling.

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