On October 16, the State Democracy Research Initiative’s faculty co-directors, Miriam Seifter and Rob Yablon, filed an amicus brief with six other legal scholars in Farrell-Smith v. Oregon Department of Justice, a case before the Oregon Court of Appeals. The case centers on whether Oregon law authorizes sweeping surveillance of its residents by the Oregon Terrorism Information Threat Analysis Network Fusion Center (TITAN). The brief argues that, in analyzing whether any state statutes enable TITAN’s invasive surveillance practices, the court should take account of the Oregon Constitution’s overarching democratic commitments. Because TITAN-style surveillance can chill speech and association in ways that impair popular self-government, courts should not treat such programs as impliedly authorized. Nor, given the Oregon Constitution’s fidelity to transparent and accountable lawmaking, should courts find that the mere inclusion of TITAN-related funding in an omnibus appropriations law amounts to proper authorization for the program itself.
The other legal scholars who joined the brief are Jessica Bulman-Pozen (Columbia Law School), Helen Hershkoff (NYU School of Law), Jonathan Marshfield (University of Florida Levin College of Law), Jane Schacter (Stanford Law School), Robert F. Williams (Rutgers Law School), and Quinn Yeargain (Michigan State University College of Law).