New Bill Would Give Marco Rubio 'thought Police' Power to Revoke Us Passports

Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago

anigbrowl

54 points

14 comments

theintercept.comOtherstory

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Us PoliticsFree SpeechHuman Rights

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Us Politics

Free Speech

Human Rights

A new bill proposed by Marco Rubio could grant the US government the power to revoke passports, sparking concerns about 'thought police' and infringement on free speech, with commenters discussing the implications for due process and constitutional rights.

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01Story posted
Sep 13, 2025 at 9:26 PM EDT
4 months ago
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Sep 13, 2025 at 9:45 PM EDT
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Sep 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM EDT
4 months ago
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Discussion (14 comments)

Showing 14 comments

selectodude

4 months ago

1 reply

While this is, of course, fucking horrible and terrifying, I will look on the bright side - I’m always excited to see the creative methodology the Supreme Court uses to find this constitutional.

jmclnx

4 months ago

No kidding, the US Supreme Court is now better at gymnastics that any Olympic Competitor. When do tryouts start for 2028 :)

Pretty good for people of their age.

sporkxrocket

4 months ago

1 reply

Israel has a terrifying amount of control of our country (if you're in the US, UK or many EU countries). They seem bound and determined to strip our rights and this has been going on long before Oct 7th. Look into anti-BDS laws: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws

Buttons840

4 months ago

They've made a few (or several) attacks against targets in ways that harm US interests.

Most recently they attacked Hamas leaders in Qutar. The US and several other countries formally condemned the attack in the UN. President Trump said the attack hindered US interests. But, of course, nothing was actually done about it. Our tax dollars will continue to pay for the weapons that are used against our will and against our interests.

mpalmer

4 months ago

1 reply

Sounds like a massive violation of the right to due process. No-fly lists were bad enough, but you were still allowed to leave and come back.

The executive has the power to revoke passports, no question. But it can't neglect a process that's intended to protect everyone from arbitrary and capricious treatment by the government.

Eddy_Viscosity2

4 months ago

2 replies

This executive most certainly can, has already, and will continue to neglect processes intended to protect everyone from arbitrary and capricious treatment by the government. It is the defining characteristic of his administration.

hulitu

4 months ago

1 reply

> This executive most certainly can, has already, and will continue to neglect processes intended to protect everyone from arbitrary and capricious treatment by the government

This is not something specific to "This executive". US has, since some time (Obama ?) banning people from travelling and searched phones and laptops at border, worse than other, "undemocratic" countries.

Eddy_Viscosity2

4 months ago

Under Obama, was anyone banned from travel into the US because they had a meme pic of his VP on their phone? Were any US citizens passports revoked because they criticized the military actions of an ally?

So yes, this is specific to 'his executive'.

mpalmer

4 months ago

I'm not naive. It's no less important to call it out for what it is. More, even.

suby

4 months ago

https://archive.ph/lfbLq

aaomidi

4 months ago

This is what Iran does btw.

mitchbob

4 months ago

More discussion at

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45238520

syntaxing

4 months ago

We really need to amend our Constitution to protect free speech of our citizens so we can say whatever we want about the US government without fear of repercussion. /s

dano

4 months ago

I think this the text of the as yet unnumbered HR. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20250917/118618/BILL...

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