Court Ruling Delivers Blow Against Oregon’s
Unauthorized Spying Program
Oregon State Court of Appeals calls surveillance allegations made by justice advocates “unsettling”—rules Oregon legislature did not authorize TITAN Fusion Center to engage in secret surveillance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Patrick Egan, Policing Project at NYU School of Law, press@policingproject.org, 718-551-6603
Salem, OR — The Oregon State Court of Appeals issued a decision that revived the lawsuit brought by a group of indigenous rights, social justice, and environmental advocates against the Oregon Department of Justice and its illegal surveillance operation known as the Oregon TITAN Fusion Center.
"I am heartened and hopeful to see a judge come down so powerfully on the side of our constitutional rights," said Ka'ila Farrell-Smith, a Klamath artist and environmental and Indigenous rights advocate. "Our First Amendment rights are fundamental to democracy, and we have to fight for them."
Not only is the decision a vindication for the plaintiffs’ case, but it is sure to have repercussions for unauthorized government surveillance activities more broadly, from automated license plate readers to facial recognition technology.
“A domestic surveillance program hoovering up information on the protected political activities of Oregon residents has no place in Oregon or in a democratic society,” said Barry Friedman, law professor at NYU School of Law and faculty director of the Policing Project. “There is not a single Oregon law or regulation that gives the state the power to run a domestic spying agency, and now the court has backed that up. This is a huge win for the rule of law and the basic principles of democratic governance.”
The plaintiffs alleged that TITAN surveils and investigates activists and political actors based on their political and social views and without any nexus to criminal activity, and that it does so absent statutory authority or executive mandate. The Court affirmed these concerns. From the decision:
"The conduct of the government as alleged in the complaint--operating a secretive law enforcement program in excess of statutory authority in a manner that chills political participation and the exercise of constitutionally-protected rights--would surely test the expectations that Oregonians set for the conduct of our government."
The Policing Project and its co-counsel partners — the Civil Liberties Defense Center, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP — filed the original lawsuit in 2021 to stop the operations of the TITAN Fusion Center, a covert domestic spying program that collects, retains, analyzes, and distributes so-called “intelligence products” on Oregon residents, including on law-abiding individuals exercising their constitutional rights to speech and assembly. The Oregon DOJ operates the TITAN spy program completely in the shadows, without any statutory authorization or legislative guardrails, in violation of Oregon law.
“Civil Liberties Defense Center is both thrilled and honored to have helped with the fight to win this appeal,” said Marianne Dugan, Director of Civil Litigation for the Civil Liberties Defense Center. “Oregon law prohibits law enforcement from monitoring political activities without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, yet Oregon DOJ officials admitted under oath to doing just that. This robust, unanimous court ruling reinforces those protections and sends a powerful message: people have the right to organize for positive change without being subjected to unlawful government surveillance.”
This lawsuit has had broad support from the beginning, with amicus briefs from the ACLU of Oregon, Brennan Center for Justice, and the Cato Institute.
“We have said from the beginning that TITAN lacks clear legal basis to conduct ongoing surveillance of law-abiding members of the Oregon public and I’m thrilled that the appellate panel has agreed,” said Tim Cunningham, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine who argued the case before the appellate court. “The freedom to advance political causes and engage in constitutionally protected speech on the critical subjects of the day, free of government intrusion, is one of our most cherished rights and I look forward to vindicating those rights for our clients in the next stage of this case.”
“Pro bono is at the heart of who we are at Cleary, and it is a privilege to bring the strength of our litigation practice to a case with such profound implications for civil rights,” said Cleary Gottlieb partner Jeff Rosenthal. “This appellate victory is an important step toward ensuring that government surveillance is subject to meaningful legislative checks, and we’re proud to stand alongside our clients in defending those principles.”
For more information, including legal documents from the case, appellate briefs and amicus briefs, visit our case page.
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About the NYU Policing Project
The Policing Project at NYU School of Law promotes public safety through transparency, equity, and democratic engagement. Learn more about the Policing Project at www.policingproject.org.