Judge Slams Administration For Ignoring Orders In Warrantless Wiretapping Case
from the new-administration,-same-story dept
We've covered the Al-Haramain case for a while, as it's the one case where there's actual evidence of a party being the subject of warrantless wiretaps by the administration. So far, the judge has continued to allow the case to go forward despite objections from both the previous administration and the current one. On Friday, the judge in the case got angry enough to scold the administration for failing to obey court orders related to the case and continuing to make arguments that had already been rejected. As such, the judge appears to be considering a sanction prohibiting the government from opposing liability for such warrantless wiretaps. This whole situation continues to baffle me. There's absolutely no reason why the federal government should need a warrantless wiretap, unless it knows that it has no probable cause and simply wants to spy on people for the sake of spying. If it had a real reason to wiretap, it could get a warrant. If it was urgent, wiretap laws have given the government a window to ask for a warrant immediately after setting up the wiretap. There's no reasonable explanation for denying the basic checks and balances to avoid abuse, and it's disappointing that both administrations have continued to try to avoid any discussion over the matter, and are improperly framing it as a matter of national security for which they don't need to answer.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: obama administration, warrantless wiretapping
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oh... wait.. that already happened???
WTF!
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The question may also be that there is a warrant, but it is issued by that "secret court" that is sometimes mentioned but rarely discussed. The potential is the administration(s) are more than willing to take it on the chin rather than reveal the work of that court, at least for now.
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Re: Secret Court???
Awesome - secret courts, trust us - we are the government and would never do any wrong, national security issues - nothing to see here.
I feel so much better now!
Freedom
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Re:
I mean, they already can do it and then within 72 hours AFTER the fact get a warrant from it (or the evidence isn't admissible) so really this is just them not wating to have to do the remaining paperwork. Either laziness or maliciousness, either way it needs to stop.
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Sad day ....
It kills me to think that people that want to do the US harm are using our legal system against us. With that said, our laws in this regard are meant to prevent abuse of power. Which don't kid yourself, will and does exist and today it just affects the terrorists, tomorrow it will affect you and me.
Ironically, both Bush and Obama support this warrant less/illegal wiretap - one being a far right fear monger and the other being a fascist. Interesting how both administrations have done major power grabs - one thru fear, the other with a smile of the perfect salesman. In the end, more control/power in the government hands - yeah Republicans; yeah Democrats!!
One thing to think about for those that think this is okay - history teaches us if nothing else that every right we give up to the government, can only be gotten back through bloodshed. What is so easily given is soooo much harder to win back.
Freedom
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Re: Sad day ....
What "major evidence"? Specifics?
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Re: Re: Sad day ....
From http://zombietime.com/al-haramain_surveillance/
//A Saudi charity known to finance terrorist activities opened a branch in Oregon. The U.S. government tapped the phones of the Oregon branch and heard evidence that they were helping to finance terrorist activities as well...//
Freedom
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Re: Re: Re: Sad day ....
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Re: Sad day ....
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Re: Re: Sad day ....
That is commonly true, but one of the less used aspects of fascism is government and business under the same control. In fascist Germany, it was government taking over business. In America, it's business taking over government.
"The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism, because it is the merger of state and corporate power" - Benito Musolini
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Mike, you answered your own question:
The government does not want a paper trial of who is being spied upon. They want to conduct their spying operations completely in secret, without any oversight, judicial or otherwise. And that should scare the fuck out of us!
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Re:
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Blue Party/Red Party
Want change you can believe in...Vote for the Pirate party.
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"Secret Court"
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It does not just affect terrorists, it affects anyone that any official decides to class as a terrorist, regardless of any evidence to back up such a classification
If the USA ever gets a Gov. that decides to openly reveal the activities of the last 10 years I think a lot of people are going to be very surprised how many people with no connection to terrorism were classified as terrorists for simple connivance sake
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Re:
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warrentless = blanket
substitute "blanket" for the word "warrantless" and it is clearer why both administrations insist on warrantless
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Benjamin Franklin
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WRONG. FISA court is secret. Try again. I should just repeat that 1,000 X because there is no legitimate come back here. The re-written FISA provisions passed by Congress, and granting telco immunity, is probably un-constitutional too, BTW. Also while the President's actions of wiretapping terrorist suspects may have been necessary, the warrantless part was not. That was ill-advised, and probably beyond the scope of the President's authority. I don't think he should be prosecuted for it, like some, but, it does set bad precendent. The entire system needs to be re-examined, but that's not likely to happen any time soon. Interesting tid-bit, the government lied, and it is plainly documented, in the original state's secrets case decades ago. The US Supreme Court ruled the state's secrets privilage legal, based on faulty original ruling. In fact, the precendent in law is based on fully proveable false evidence in the original (decade's past) case. The entire system needs to be reworked, through LAW not some mythical non-existant "state's secrets privilage" found NO WHERE in the Constitution.
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fascist
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It's not about spying on anyone -- it's about spying on everyone
They know they can target an individual very easily. This is about general surveillance, signal in the noise, and pattern tech.
This is an easy one.
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Re: It's not about spying on anyone -- it's about spying on everyone
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