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A federal appeals court has unanimously ruled that the National Security Agency's phone-records surveillance program is unlawful. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York held that the statute the government is relying on to justify the bulk collection of phone records -- Section 215 of the Patriot Act -- does not permit the gathering of Americans' sensitive information on such a massive scale.

Within the last two weeks, two Vermont State Police troopers have resigned in disgrace -- one after driving on the job allegedly inebriated, another after posting derogatory comments and images on social media sites. Yet neither appears at risk of losing the certification that allows them to be Vermont law enforcement officers. Intemperance and bias don't, under current rules, count as grounds to disqualify someone from being a cop. That could have changed this legislative session -- but complaints from law enforcement blocked the effort.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act. The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license plate readers with those of other law enforcement agencies around the country.

Our friends at the New England First Amendment Coalition are looking for a New Englander who has fought for information crucial to the public's understanding of their community or of what their government is doing.

The number of people in American jails is staggering -- 2.2 million, or one in every 100 American adults. Vermont has done better than many other states in bucking the trend. Nonetheless, despite low crime rates, we've been putting more people behind bars, leading to full prisons and the transfer of inmates to private out-of-state jails. The ACLU-VT is part of a coalition, Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform, that's working with the national group "Grassroots Leadership" to cut Vermont's ties with private, for-profit prisons and bring Vermont inmates home. You can help -- sign the "Locked Up and Shipped Away" petition to bring Vermont inmates home.

Most of us have probably been thinking a lot about Ferguson, Missouri, this week. On Monday a grand jury there declined to recommend charges against the white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, who shot and killed a young black man, Michael Brown, in August. The events may seem distant, but here's a sobering fact that may make them seem a bit more immediate. Police in Burlington, VT, arrest African-Americans at a higher rate than police in Ferguson.

Vermont is not known for explosive devices planted along country roads or interstate highways, or armed guerrilla fighters hiding in the woods. But that hasn't stopped the state's police agencies from obtaining armor-plated, bomb-resistant military vehicles from the U.S. Department of Defense. These heavy, gas-guzzling vehicles -- built at great public expense for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- have found their way into Vermont through a federal program that has led to what Americans saw this summer in Ferguson, Missouri: the militarization of state and local police.

It's been a long time since Edward Snowden revealed to the world the extent of electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency -- so long, in fact, that a movie, CitizenFour, has just been released detailing how and why Snowden did what he did. Congress is not a promising nominee for an award bestowed for quick redress of violations of Americans' basic rights. It has a chance to get in the running, though, for such an award (if not for "quick redress," then at least for "redress") if it takes up and passes the USA Freedom Act during the lame duck session now underway in Washington.