Nicholas Merrill spoke at a Cato Hill Briefing for Freshman Congressional staffers on March 20, 2011. He describes the experience of receiving a National Security Letter with a gag order in 2004 and the ensuing seven-year battle in court, Doe v. Ashcroft. In the end the gag order was partially lifted, allowing Merrill to reveal that he was the plaintiff in the case. Now he travels the country speaking about National Security Letters as the founder of the Calyx Institute, but still cannot reveal certain details surrounding his story.