Breaking News: Federal Judge Rules Wireless Wiretapping Unconstitutional
by Pamela LeaveyBreaking News: A U.S. federal judge has ruled that Bush’s warrantless wiretapping is unconstitutional. More to follow…
In a huge victory against the Bush administration’s domestic spying program a federal judge ruled today that the “government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.”
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which involves secretly taping conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries.
The government argued that the program is well within the president’s authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule.
Judge Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion, “Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution.”
Ann Beeson, the ACLU’s associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs said, “By holding that even the president is not above the law, the court has done its duty.”
As to be expected… The NSA has made no immediate comment on the ruling.
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What a judge!! But you know that they are trying figure how to do a write in somewhere to get around it. Just like torture and Iraq, they just don’t wanna let it go.
Another Anti-Terror Tool Gone
One can only hope that SCOTUS is smarter than these idiots. To paraphrase Bush, the terrorists have to succeed once, the government has to succeed every time. The ACLU has increased the chances of us being unsuccessful at the potential cost of American…
The government has to succeed by acting within the law, or the terrorists win by destroying our system. So far Bush has been allowing bin Laden to win.
As the British have made clear, you can do the terror thing successfully – even when you have to get warrants. In Britain that can mean TWO. They have to get a separate property warrant if the tapping involves placing equipment in the property of the suspect.
Actually Richard Clarke and Clinton made it clear you could do it successfully. Bush just wouldn’t believe them.