Appeals Court OKs Challenge to Warrantless Electronic SpyingA legal challenge questioning the constitutionality of a federal law authorizing warrantless electronic surveillance of Americans inched a step closer Wednesday toward resolution.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for the second time, rejected the Obama administration’s contention that it should toss a lawsuit challenging the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act. Among other things, the government said the plaintiffs — Global Fund for Women, Global Rights, Human Rights Watch, International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association, The Nation magazine, PEN American Center, Service Employees International Union and others — don’t have standing to bring a constitutional challenge because they cannot demonstrate that they were subject to the eavesdropping or suffered hardships because of it.
The lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, was lodged within hours of the FISA Amendments Act (.pdf) being signed into law by President George W. Bush in July 2008. The legislation is being challenged because it allows the National Security Agency to electronically eavesdrop on Americans without a probable-cause warrant if one of the parties to the communication resides outside the United States and is suspected of a link to terrorism.
“It is the glory of our system that even our elected leaders must defend the legality of their conduct when challenged,” (.pdf) Judge Gerard Lynch wrote.
First off, this is really a non-story. President Dickhead will invoke state secrets to quash the thing, just like President Dumbass used to do.
I would like to point out a wonderful bit of reasoning that would have made Joseph Heller smile in his pants, though. Nobody could sue without proper standing, which nobody had because they couldn't prove that they had been spied upon, but the entire state of surveillance now dictates that nobody can
ever be informed that they're a target. Nice work, people.
And then there's a question. This (along with quite a bit of similarly questionable policy) has now been vehemently defended by two of the most despised presidents ever. Who's left to support it? When it was Dumbass insisting upon it's urgency, plenty of us said this is a very, very bad thing, only to have his apologists defend it to the best of their ability. Now it's Obama decrying it's importance, so shouldn't the Dittoheads and FOX News minions be scared shitless about socialists and Chicagoans interfering with their rights to own guns and harass homos? Why isn't the freaking tea-party all over this--they're the ones Herr Holder is probably most interested in checking out.
I have this mental picture of Epicview quietly constructing an EM insulated bunker under his home to evade the Obama jack-boots, and for once I would probably think him sane, but apparently this is an area where people suddenly, magically trust Obama to be a good guy. I don't get it.
Topic: Another warrantless wiretapping thread (Read 1286 times)