Host Lisa Loving speaks with Susan Herman about her new book “Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy” which takes a hard look at the human and social costs of the War on Terror. A decade after 9/11, it is far from clear that the government's hastily adopted antiterrorist tactics--such as the Patriot Act--are keeping us safe, but it is increasingly clear that these emergency measures in fact have the potential to ravage our lives--and have already done just that to countless Americans. Herman gives a powerful account of how civil liberties have rapidly eroded in post-9/11 America, tells numerous stories of ordinary people caught in the government's surveillance dragnet, explains that the state of emergency has continued into the Obama administration, and shows why we must remain vigilant if we are to hold on to our age-old freedoms
Susan Herman is President of the American Civil Liberties Union. She holds a chair as Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches courses and seminars in Constitutional Law, Terrorism, and Civil Liberties. She is the author of “The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial: A Reference Guide to the The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution” and “Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy.”
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