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Author Topic: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional  (Read 2039 times)

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Offline BlueStateSaint

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Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« on: December 16, 2013, 02:05:04 PM »
A headline on Drudge.




Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional

A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.

Acting on a lawsuit brought by conservative legal activist Larry Klayman, Leon issued a preliminary injunction barring the NSA from collecting so-called metadata pertaining to the Verizon accounts of Klayman and one of his clients. However, the judge stayed the order to allow for an appeal.

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The preliminary injunction Leon granted Monday does not require him to make a definitive ruling on the constitutional questions in the case, but does take account of which side he believes is more likely to prevail.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html#ixzz2nfcDn17U

Very interesting, indeed.
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Offline Mr Mannn

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2013, 05:34:06 PM »
My only comment: "Well Duh!"

Still the rats need a KGB, so they will appeal this ruling.
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Offline DefiantSix

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2013, 05:52:13 PM »
"Yeah?  And?" [/Obama]
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Offline DumbAss Tanker

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2013, 07:50:42 PM »
Saw the 60 Minutes slow-pitch softball game on this yesterday evening.  The NSA via CBS carefully stated that they only actually collected and used the cell call metadata.  That was one of those things that is technically true as far as it goes, but not true at all in a real-world, common-sense way.

What the NSA means when they say that is that they actually capture EVERYTHING in the call, but do not review or analyze anything but the metadata unless and until they are either told to by another agency (Presumably based on probable cause and with at least a claim the other agency really got a FISA warrant) or they develop probable cause and obtain a FISA warrant to do that themselves, for instance based on their call network constructs linking a given number to an on-going investigation.

Legally, what they are doing IS a seizure, the fact that they grab all the call contents is still a seizure whether they review it at the time they seize it or not. 

There is, of course, no oversight, counterbalance, or check whatsoever on their claim to only review said information based on probable cause, since the FISA Court has no power to intervene and investigate, as it is only able to review matters the Administration decides to bring to its attention. 
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Offline Ptarmigan

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2013, 09:12:39 PM »
Good.
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Offline Wineslob

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2013, 09:12:48 AM »
Definitely Bush's fault.
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Offline carnac

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2013, 10:16:48 AM »
  Of course it is unconstitutional. A thousand things the Obama administration does is unconstitutional but we have senators (the democratic majority) who put party over country. They will overlook major unconstitutional slights to make sure the demo. party is in power. Obama has a great dislike for the constitution. The senate knows this and does not care. There is no patriotism left in either party; especially the democrat party.
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Offline obumazombie

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Re: Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2013, 01:39:37 AM »
Never listen to what rodeowebuma says. Watch what he does.
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