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House Republicans are steaming that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner decided to talk to POLITICO for a profile on her life after twice taking the Fifth before Congress.

Lerner refused to answer questions before House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issas panel and quickly became the center of the tea party targeting saga that erupted 16 months ago. The former head of the IRS tax exempt unit declared her innocence in the interview, as she has maintained throughout, but would not discuss her time at the IRS in the run-up to the firestorm.

Republicans, who voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress and held countless hearings blasting her for refusing to speak, said it was unfair for her to speak to media and not lawmakers.

Her decision to make unsubstantiated claims to a media outlet while claiming Fifth Amendment protections from answering Congress questions is telling, Issa (R-Calif.) said in a statement on Monday. She appears to have great confidence that her allies in the Obama Administration will not consider legal action after she resigned and declined to discuss the IRS actions against private citizens.

(Also on POLITICO: Exclusive: Lois Lerner breaks silence)

The scandal erupted in May 2013 after Lerner, at the behest of her boss, acknowledged that her division had given added scrutiny to conservative groups using search terms like tea party. A damning inspector general report followed, which led to President Barack Obama firing the acting IRS chief, congressional hearings and an FBI probe.

Although Lerner acknowledged she is a Democrat, she said her political leanings never affected her work. Republicans have released emails showing she took an interest in GOP nonprofit Crossroads GPS, including asking why the group was not audited and suggesting the group should be denied tax-exempt status.

House Speaker John Boehners staff posted a blog calling out Lerner for telling POLITICO she is not sorry for anything I did.

Thanks to President Obama and his cadre of cover-up artists, we still dont know what exactly that entailed, his communications adviser, Matt Wolking, wrote in a blog.

Meanwhile Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the IRS Oversight subcommittee, called the interview a poke in the eye to the American citizens who were targeted by the IRS.

See more here:
GOP fumes over Lerner remarks

Civics- The Fifth Amendment (Sarah Hutchinson)
Civics.

By: Sarah Hutchinson

More here:
Civics- The Fifth Amendment (Sarah Hutchinson) - Video

Apple is really serious about privacy, guys.

Apple Apple wants the world to know that its really, really serious about privacy. Accompanying the launch of the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 was a personal letter from Apple CEO Tim Cook about the companys commitment to privacy and a new, revamped page about all-things-privacy on iDevices and a how-to guide for setting preferences to up your privacy if youre an iUser. Apple has long used privacy to differentiate itself from the competition; back in 2010, Steve Jobs said Apple always had a very different view of privacy than some of our colleagues in the Valley. We take privacy extremely seriously. Cook repeated the sentiment more strongly in his letter, taking direct aim at Google Google, saying Apple doesnt build a profile of its users or read their messages to get information to market to you.

Apple is getting serious about privacy because it has to. It wants the iPhone to become the only thing you need beyond oxygen. The iPhone is not just for communication and web browsing anymore. It wants to track your health (with HealthKit), be your wallet (with Apple Pay), and control the devices in your home (with HomeKit). Depending on how personalized the iPhone 6s vibration capabilities get, it could be your iSignificantOther. This is all set against the backdrop of concern about tech companies guardianship of our personal information amid the Snowden leaks. So Apple did something very smart. It announced that with iOS 8, the data encrypted on iPhones will only be able to be unlocked with your passcode. Unlike ourcompetitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data, Apple wrote on its privacy page. So its not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS8.

So now, if law enforcement wants into your phone, theyll need to get you to enter your passcode. One Apple competitor felt the heat. Google-owned Android quickly issued an us, too! announcement, saying that its next operating system will also encrypt data on smartphones by default for those using a passcode. Privacy advocates are thrilled. Its not just about making it easier to protect civil liberties in the U.S. but exporting it to countries with restrictive governments where it will now be harder to get dissidents iPhone chats.

But former federal prosecutor and legal expert Orin Kerr was not thrilled. He says that if the po-po have a warrant, they should be able to get into a phone, and that Apple is making it harder for them to conduct lawful searches. People encrypting the content of their devices is not common practice now, but moving forward, it could become widespread, and law enforcement will have to force people to hand over or enter their passcodes in order to get evidence from those devices. Thats where the legal showdown will happen.

If the government obtains a subpoena ordering the person to enter in the passcode, and the person refuses or falsely claims not to know the passcode, a person can be held in contempt for failure to comply, writes Kerr.

Thats actually disputed legal territory. Back in 2012, Hanni Fakhoury, a lawyer at civil liberties group EFF, explored the issue of decryption as a Fifth Amendment issue. Is refusing to enter the passcode to your device the same as refusing to give incriminating testimony and pleading the Fifth? There is conflicting law on the issue.

A district court judge in Colorado ruled(PDF) that Ramona Fricosu could be forced to decryptinformation on a computer seized by law enforcement in connection with a mortgage fraud case.But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled (PDF) that the 5th Amendment prevented the government from forcing a suspect in a child pornography investigation to decrypt the contents of several computers and drives seized by law enforcement.

In one case, the court ruled that law enforcement already knew what it wanted off the computer and could get it. In the other, the court ruled that law enforcement was trying to force the alleged child porn possessor to testify against himself by performing the decryption.

Kerr thinks the Fifth Amendment shouldnt protect people against decrypting evidence that will be used against them, citing a 2009 case from Vermont, but suggests that if this turns out to be a problem, Congress should pass a new law upping the penalties beyond a simple contempt charge for people who wont hand over their passcodes, or pass a law forcing tech companies to design their systems in such a way that they can bypass the passcode.

More here:
Apple And Google Will Force A Legal Battle Over The Privacy Of Your Passcode

The Fifth Amendment Eminent Domain
For Mr. Carter #39;s Government class Idaho.

By: Justin Myler

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The Fifth Amendment Eminent Domain - Video

You probably already knew this, but we have a pretty good idea of what our users are searching for. Sure, it's a little creepy when Google knows your question before you even type it into the box. We don't get that personal, but we do pay attention to frequently searched terms in order to better understand -- and serve -- your needs.

Since today is Constitution Day, we thought we'd share the Top 5 FindLaw.com search terms related to the U.S. Constitution. You'll also find valuable resources for each topic listed below, but feel free to search for more:

1. "Gun Laws" (2nd Amendment) -- Regardless of your personal beliefs, we can all agree that an epidemic of gun-related tragedies has kept this issue on the front burner of our collective conscience. Although the right to bear arms is a federal guarantee, many state laws provide varying restrictions on gun ownership and use. You can learn more about these laws here:

2. "Miranda Rights" (5th Amendment and 6th Amendment) -- Nearly every crime show on TV will have an utterance of the words, "You have the right to remain silent..." Those are referred to as our Miranda rights, named for the U.S. Supreme Court case (Miranda v. Arizona) that requires police to inform arrestees of their constitutional rights. Check out these resources to learn more:

3. "Supreme Court Cases" -- The U.S. Supreme Court is where the constitutionality of laws is tested. Quite a few of our users simply typed "Supreme Court cases" into the search box, but there's a much easier way to find High Court opinions, news, and analysis of both recent and historical cases:

4. "Search and Seizure" (4th Amendment) -- Few constitutional provisions have been challenged and clarified as often as the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure by the police. Searches and seizures have a broad impact on criminal rights and procedures, such as the admissibility of evidence and the legality of arrests.

5. "Due Process" (5th Amendment and 14th Amendment) -- To honor "due process" is to follow the proper course of formal legal proceedings, carried out consistently, fairly, and in line with current laws and regulations. While the Fifth Amendment prohibits the arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the federal government, the Fourteenth Amendment extends these protections to all U.S. citizens under all jurisdictions within the country.

It's hard to believe that a document signed exactly 227 years ago today is not only still valid, but continues to serve as the cornerstone of this great experiment we call the United States of America. FindLaw may not have been around as long as the U.S. Constitution, but we're always here to serve you.

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Top 5 Constitution-Related Searches at FindLaw.com