Talk:Ben Wizner

Edward Snowden

I removed Wikidata claim that Edward Snowden is Wizner's employer. Cited reference does not clearly state that Wizner is personally employed by Snowden, rather than representing him in his (Wizner's) capacity as an ACLU employee. Moreover, other sources have reported that Wizner represents Snowden pro bono, which further complicates the employment claim. KalHolmann (talk) 19:26, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

Khalid El-Masri

I also removed the Wikidata claim that Khalid El-Masri is Wizner's employer, and for the same reason as Snowden (see above). Sources indicate Wizner and other attorneys represented El-Masri as ACLU employees, not as employees of Khalid El-Masri. KalHolmann (talk) 21:47, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

Stephen Reinhardt

I removed the Wikidata claim that Stephen Reinhardt was Wizner's employer. As a clerk for Judge Reinhardt, Wizner would have been an employee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, not of the judge personally. KalHolmann (talk) 21:49, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

Updated Early life and education section

Hello editors! My name's Sara and I work for the ACLU. I have drafted an updated version of this article, with improved sourcing, that I'm seeking updates to this page from.

Would anybody be willing to take a look at my request? I understand that I have a conflict of interest, so I'll never directly edit the article unless explicitly told to do so.

• Request: I would like to take what is currently in the Education and personal life section, and replace it wholesale with the following version, naming it the Early life and education. This will help the section become more succinct, flow better, and simplify the amount of sources being used. The title change will also be a bit more in keeping with Wikipedia manual of style. See below:

Early life and education

Wizner, born in 1971, was raised on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Stephen Wizner, was a law professor at Yale Law School, and his mother was a dean. Wizner studied literature at Harvard University, graduating in 1993, and later earned a law degree in New York. He was a law clerk to Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

References

Let me know what you think, and thanks! ACLUSara (talk) 15:31, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

Partly done. Section header changed. I guess I'm not sure why the information about his secondary school and work prior with a nonprofit prior to law school should be removed. The sourcing seems appropriate (a non-primary source for the Hopkins School info would be preferred but isn't terrible as-is) and I don't really see a reason how this makes it "flow better" or why it needs to be made "more succinct." I have marked this request as answered; to reopen this with additional information/sources, please change |answered=yes to |answered=no in the {{edit COI}} template at the top of this section. Best, Spencer^T•C 03:08, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

Your edits definitely make sense, and I appreciate you taking a look here. Your feedback is noted for my future requests, thanks ACLUSara (talk) 16:12, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Edit request

Hello editors! My name's Sara and I work for the ACLU. I have drafted an updated version of the current History and Public comments sections. Would anybody be willing to take a look at my request?

• Request: I would like to take what is currently in the Career and Public comments sections, and replace it with the content in the box below.

My proposed version of the Career section provides a clearer narrative of Wizner’s career by outlining his focus areas and main leadership roles covered in reliable sourcing. I've only removed information where it could not be backed by reliable sourcing, including some of the information from the Medium blog. The current version lists activities chronologically, contains primary sources, and contains much with less context.

I've also renamed the Public comments section to be Public commentary. This is so we can move some of the content from the main Career section, into this section. Using Public commentary as a section heading broadens the focus to include not only Wizner’s specific comments, but also his public stances and media appearances. This updated section will also help distinguish his public commentary from the biographical details of his career.

See below:

Proposed version

Career

Wizner began his legal career at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Los Angeles in August 2001, focusing initially on jail and prison reform. After the September 11 attacks, his work shifted to civil liberties issues related to the treatment of Muslim Americans and national security legislation. He moved to the ACLU’s national office in 2004, and joined the newly established National Security Project, where he worked on detention, interrogation, and watch list issues, including representing torture victims and Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Wizner became director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project in 2011. In this role, he concentrated on the intersection of technology and civil liberties. He then became Edward Snowden’s principal legal adviser in July 2013. He coordinated legal support and media communications, and managed Snowden’s participation in public events. He has been a critic of government mass surveillance, arguing that Snowden’s disclosures provided evidence necessary for legal challenges. Wizner has also spoken against the use of the Espionage Act against whistleblowers and advocated for legal reforms to allow a public interest defense.

Wizner was an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law as of 2018. As of October 2025, Wizner is deputy legal director and director of the Center for Democracy at the ACLU.

Public commentary

He has been a contributor to Lawfare, Time, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and several other media outlets. He has also testified before the United States Congress. Wizner participated in an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate in February 2014, arguing in favor of Edward Snowden's actions.

He provided legal guidance on the First Amendment to student protesters during The National School Walkout on CNN.

After the United States Department of Justice sued over Edward Snowden’s memoir, Wizner said the book contained no new classified information and Snowden was wary of the government's review process. Earlier that year, Wizner and the ACLU, with the 'Knight First Amendment Institute, had sued to challenge the constitutionality of the government’s pre-publication review system.

In June 2020, Wizner said the government’s effort to block John Bolton’s memoir was to prevent scandal, not protect national security. In July 2020, he stated the government could not imprison Michael Cohen for writing about President Trump. He described the arrest of activist Mahmoud Khalil as "unprecedented, illegal, and un-American" in 2025.

He has spoken at events such as the National Liberty Museum’s panel on free speech and the Fast Company Innovation Festival in 2025.

References

Let me know what you think, and thanks! ACLUSara (talk) 19:27, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

Question     Comments:

• After the United States Department of Justice sued over Edward Snowden’s memoir whom did they sue?
• He has been a contributor to Lawfare, Time, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and several other media outlets. He has also testified before the United States Congress this has no less than 4 references attached to it. Three of them are to sites/pages that Wizner controls. Is it that the fourth reference did not vouch for all of the information, so the other three were brought in to finish this up? If that's the case, then we'll need WP:TSI to be followed.
• and several other media outlets may we know these several others?
• I'm concerned with your direction I've only removed information where it could not be backed by reliable sourcing, including some of the information from the Medium blog when that removed information is not explicity included here on the talk page. My concern originates from long experience where editors surreptitiously remove text that is replaced by other text but do not state what this text is, which has the effect of "hiding" the removed text. That is why directions for replacing text includes the proviso where an explicit description of any wording to be removed, including removal for substitution is asked for. I'm not saying that you're planning to engage in subterfuge; I just want to make sure everything is documented here. So if we could have the text to be removed included with your request, that would be most helpful.
• When ready to proceed, kindly change the {{Edit COI}} template's answer parameter to read from |ans=y to |ans=n. Thank you!

References

Regards,  Spintendo  17:47, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

Hello Spintendo! I've taken the time to respond to each of your points, and re-opened the request. Let me know if you have any questions about any of the points below.

• 1: The DoJ sued Edward Snowden over the memoir. We can change that sentence to this, if it's unclear:

After the United States Department of Justice sued Edward Snowden over his memoir, Wizner said the book contained no new classified information and Snowden was wary of the government's review process.

References

• 2: I've reorganized the citations to align more closely with WP:TSI (see below). The primary sources are used only to confirm that Wizner has contributed to those sites, not to verify anything about his actual thoughts or feelings, just uncontroversial factual details. This is the reason I used them in this instance.

He has been a contributor to Lawfare, Time, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and several other media outlets. He has also testified before the United States Congress. Wizner participated in an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate in February 2014, arguing in favor of Edward Snowden's actions.

References

• 3: Wizner has also contributed to the LA Times, the Nation, and Twincities.com to name a few. I purposefully did not list all of the media outlets here, since I did not want to keep listing notable publications where Wizner is a contributing author. Especially since, as you mentioned, I would be using primary sources to make these statements. The ACLU source validates the claim, and lists some of the sources Wizner has contributed to.
• 4: I hear your concerns, and will be more specific here. I was not intending on hiding anything. The current reference number 7 currently verifies the following information, and this is the reasoning behind what edits I've done in my draft:

• Deleted direct quotation from Wizner here: "Many of the cases Wizner took were dismissed; he later commented that "on the worst days, I believed that what we were doing ... wasn't litigation in the traditional sense. It wasn't trying to get a court to do something, it was creating a record so that ... people would be able to look back and decide whether it had been the right decision or a disastrous decision.""
• Deleted, since there were not any alternative sources that covered this information:"Starting in 2005, Wizner represented Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen arrested while travelling in Macedonia on suspicion of links to Al Qaeda, who was held by the CIA at a black site in Afghanistan for five months, despite evidence that he was the wrong person. El-Masri's suit was dismissed in the U.S. on grounds of state secrecy, though the CIA ultimately admitted to making a mistake, in a report released by the U.S. Senate. The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Macedonia in the case."
• Changed the source to cite the Huffington Post: "In 2011, Wizner became director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project."

Thanks ACLUSara (talk) 20:58, 24 July 2026 (UTC)