(Credit: current.com)

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government's ability to identify and intercept national security threats became paramount. With this concern came the Patriot Act and its inclusion and extension of the Cold War-era FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

It was reported in a recent article in Governing magazine that several cities across the US are installing audio surveillance systems on their public buses, which has sparked a debate over privacy concerns and whether or not this particular type of surveillance violates wiretapping laws or maybe even the Constitution.

Credit: Flickr/Governor Rick Perry

Last week, the Superior Court of Fulton County temporarily suspended an abortion ban in Georgia that would have made pre-viability abortions illegal. The law would have criminalized most abortions starting at twenty weeks of pregnancy.