Opinion | Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. (Gift Article)

Here's a gift link to my 9/11 essay in the NYT. Civil libertarians long warned that before giving government new powers, we should consider how an administration with authoritarian ambition might abuse them. We were told that America was too exceptional to elect such a person. Well here we are.

“Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario. We now have a president who is using the post-9/11 counterterrorism powers for his own ends. He is declaring national emergencies where none exist and is targeting his political enemies as if they were terrorists.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

it would have been great if y'all listened to us 20 years ago but may i suggest starting now?

A lot of political commentary these days is on the question: is All This a break from our past, or a continuation of it? @radleybalko.bsky.social with an convincing case for the latter: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"Barring once-in-a-generation reform, this and any future administration with an authoritarian bent now know they’re free to at least try even egregiously illegal policies and police actions." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Today’s @radleybalko.bsky.social op-ed is worth reading. Trump’s crimes are the apotheosis of—not an aberration from—the decades-long, bipartisan project of executive aggrandizement. If we want a better future, we’ll have to reckon with this history and build safeguards to prevent its repetition.

"It was easy to miss the slow, steady erosion of our freedoms....Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... by @radleybalko.bsky.social

@radleybalko.bsky.social and others have written powerfully about the damage that the overreaction to 9/11 did to our civil liberties. The Minneapolis cases show how. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

“Civil libertarians urged Americans to imagine those powers in the hands not of an altruistic and conscientious president, but one with little respect for norms, institutions or democratic principles. Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"We’re here because we didn’t listen to the civil libertarians. It’s not too late to start." - @radleybalko.bsky.social

I agree with the overall op-Ed, but what in the world is a "civil libertarian"?

Great piece by the always essential @radleybalko.bsky.social. (But @nytimes.com, this should be 2001 in the final graf: "In the years after Sept. 11, 2011, ...")

Radley Balko: Civil libertarians warned that special powers granted government would be abused by wanna be authoritarians. They were ignored. But they were right, and here we are now.

————————————— Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. By Radley Balko www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Radley Balko writes about a subject few have referenced in their 9/11 recollections — the Patriot Act. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... Authoritarianism must be stopped now or our freedoms will be completely eliminated. Elect a Congress which is truly of, and for, the people!

This great piece from @radleybalko.bsky.social explains more. Bush said the terrorists would win if we didn't give up our rights. Obama more eloquently justified drone murder, including USians, based on the same theory of power. Now Trump is taking it all further. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

It’s not too late to rein in the over-policing of our country. We must learn from the overreaction to 9/11 that brought us to where we are today. Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Border czar Tom Homan told ICE critics, after Renee Good's death, that there's still gonna be more bloodshed unless they shut their mouth. Legal commentators called it a likely First Amendment violation. This is what civil libertarians warned about 25 years ago. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

I am hoping that next year we can start correcting a lot of the powers we’ve allowed presidents to accumulate www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Too important a read not to share: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

“After 9/11, national security hawks were fond of the phrase “the Constitution is not a suicide pact.” That was always a canard. History teems with great states destroyed by autocrats and dictators. The threat to free societies has never been too much freedom. It has always been authoritarianism.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

“Mr. Trump is using every authority we have given the president since Sept. 11, 2001, and some we haven’t, in ways the civil libertarians had tried to warn us about at the start.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

This an important read, well worth six minutes of your life. Were gonna have to repeal a lot of legislation to put the racists back in the box. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

#MissKittyPolitics I have to do this cuz this hurts so bad. I am a believer of the DEEP inside help for 9/11. I don't know the conversations and I don't know who had them but I know what I looked at. And I know what I saw when I saw #Bush get that first notification. I'll never forget it.

Another banger from @radleybalko.bsky.social. We will never get anywhere until we reckon with where we were, what we did, and who we harmed. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

The Patriot Act. Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Essential reading.

"History teems with great states destroyed by autocrats and dictators. The threat to free societies has never been too much freedom. It has always been authoritarianism — and always will be."

"The consequences of all those years of expanded presidential power are plainly visible now. Mr. Trump is using every authority we have given the president since Sept. 11, 2001, and some we haven't, in ways the civil libertarians had tried to warn us about at the start."

I am hard-pressed to think of anyone who has been more right about more consequential things in the last 25 years than @radleybalko.bsky.social though I imagine he also wishes that weren’t the case more than most.

Slide into autocracy 126 : (gift article, read for free) "The "Patroit Act" granted sweeping powers to the federal government...Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario. Trump is using these powers for his own ends. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Opinion | Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. - The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

On the steady erosion of civil liberties and the Worst Case Scenario, after 9/11: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/opinion/911-patriot-act-trump-politics.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share tl;dr, we civil libertarian sorts were right.

It can get worse.

"It was easy to miss the slow, steady erosion of our freedoms. When abuses did make news, we were reassured that while our presidents might make mistakes or skirt the Constitution, they did so in good faith... "Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"It was easy to miss the slow, steady erosion of our freedoms. When abuses did make news, we were reassured that while our presidents might make mistakes or skirt the Constitution, they did so in good faith.... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

I'm not saying we told you so, but... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

As for twenty-five years ago today, I’ll let Radley Balko speak for me. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"...[W]elcome to the worst-case scenario. We now have a president who is using the post-9/11 counterterrorism powers for his own ends. He is declaring national emergencies where none exist and is targeting his political enemies as if they were terrorists." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Good piece and goes well with Radley Balko's article in the Times www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil libertarians knew this would happen after Sept. 11. “The threat to free societies has never been too much freedom. It has always been authoritarianism — and always will be.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Mr Balko has some thoughts. They are good. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/opinion/911-patriot-act-trump-politics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AFE.vsdn.SKg0psa2KBSa&smid=url-share

In the "we told you so" category (and, to be clear, we did), but still a good read, I think. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

it can and will get worse. MIDTERMS vote vote vote www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Appreciate @radleybalko.bsky.social saying what needs to be said: “Mr. Trump is using every authority we have given the president since Sept. 11, 2001, and some we haven’t, in ways the civil libertarians had tried to warn us about at the start.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

“The powers previous presidents amassed are now being turned against us. We’re here now because we were too arrogant, or naïve, to think that was possible. We’re here because we thought the Oval Office was too revered and stately — that we were too exceptional — to be co-opted by authoritarianism.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

The "Patriot Act", the defining response to the events of September 11th 2001, provided the administrative infrastructure for American authoritarianism... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

The Patriot Act set up the surveillance state & laid out the SCOTUS plan for the unconstitutional executive power our current unitary president has. &here we are, in the moment our Founders feared. Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"We’re here because we didn’t listen to the civil libertarians. It’s not too late to start."

We're here, in the US, marching toward authoritarianism, because we ignored warnings about expansions of government power post 9/11, says Radley Balko. (Particularly, expansions of executive power.) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... From @radleybalko.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... Why we have lost our rights.

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

😢 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... Given that Democrats are able to win back a majority in congress their most important task will be to reinstall civil rights.

Great article about how we eroded our own rights to allow these abuses. "Barring once-in-a-generation reform, this and any future administration with an authoritarian bent now know they’re free to at least try even egregiously illegal policies and police actions..." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Read and get angry all over again. From @radleybalko.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

If you're not familiar with the Patriot Act you should definitely take a few minutes and read this.

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

I count myself among those who thought concerns over post-9/11 actions such as creating DHS and the ODNI as well as legislation such as the Patriot Act were overblown and that we could trust the government to do the right thing. I was wrong in so many ways.

"History teems with great states destroyed by autocrats and dictators. The threat to free societies has never been too much freedom. It has always been authoritarianism — and always will be."

I tend to be naive on some things. Ie. Our general population-people wouldn't vote for Trump (twice). Or that we'd have Government guardrails within Washington. What I was NOT naive about in 2001 onward was Patriot Act and separately the invasion of Iraq. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

How 9/11 prompted the formerly sort-of-democratic USA to create the tools of fascist surveillance and its own authoritarian repression. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Powers previous presidents amassed are now being turned against us. We’re here now because we were too arrogant, or naïve, to think that was possible, we thought the Oval Office was too revered, stately, that we were too exceptional, to be co-opted by authoritarianism www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

I had shifted to working the night shift a few weeks before 9/11. I woke up early; around 6:45am, with my phone ringing off the hook with my mother: "They blew it up! They BLEW IT UP!". All I could think of: Oh shit, a nuke. Upon reflection, she was more right than anybody.

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened by Radley Balko, an investigative journalist writing on civil liberties and the criminal justice system Gift article

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

It's always worth paying attention to what Radley Balko says about civil liberties. He reminds us that America's authoritarian turn started with 9/11—after that awful day, leaders gave in to fear and built a lawless national security apparatus that now haunts us all. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

As the war widens and worsens, and Trump responds in a psychopathic way, the odds increase for a terrorist attack here. And you know how he’d use that, right? “Trump has used the president’s post-9/11 ‘national emergency’ loopholes more than any other president. “ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

From The New York Times Opinion Section The powers amassed by previous presidents through the Patriot Act and other post-9/11 measures “are now being turned against us,” Radley Balko writes. “We’re here now because we were too arrogant, or naïve, to think that was possible.”

. 🎁 Gift Link www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"The powers previous presidents amassed are now being turned against us. We’re here now because we were too arrogant, or naïve, to think that was possible." Gift article from NYT -- www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Radley Balko has been consistently warning us his entire career.

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen We Should Have Listened www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... They urged Americans to imagine those powers in the hands not of an altruistic and conscientious president, but one with little respect for norms, institutions or democratic principles And here we are

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"History teems with great states destroyed by autocrats and dictators. The threat to free societies has never been too much freedom. It has always been authoritarianism — and always will be." Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o... it was transparent that Dick Cheney, the tool of oligarchs, viewed it as an opportunity

"powers previous presidents amassed are now being turned against us...we were too arrogant...naïve, to think that was possible...we were too exceptional...to be co-opted by authoritarianism.....we didn’t listen to the civil libertarians. It’s not too late to start" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

This an important reason read, six minutes of your life. We're going to have to undo a lot of legislation to put the facists back in the box. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"It can get worse", he says. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...

"Welcome to the worst case scenario," from @radleybalko.bsky.social who traces the decline in our civil liberties, including #FirstAmendment, in the 25 years since 9/11 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/o...