Say it ain’t so? Progressives have said this since last December that the program was illegal. The whole first chapter of Glenn Greenwald’s book, How Should the Patriot Act?, clearly delineates how the program is illegal. This was actually a no-brainer. Again, let me state for the record, that I believe that domestic surveillance is important. It is an important tool in the war against terrorism. This tool should be used within the scope of the law. All domestic surveillance should be overseen by the courts. Domestic surveillance without oversight leads to abuse. Finally, remember that the FISA laws were written during the Cold War (the late 1970s). At that time we had a risk of nuclear annihilation. There is a special war provision of the FISA laws. Do not buy the neoconservatives argument that this is a special time and a special threat. The law is flexible and it works.
Go here to read the actual FISA law.
WaPo has the story:
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 17, 2006; 2:42 PM
A federal judge in Detroit ordered a halt to the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program, ruling for the first time that the controversial effort ordered by President Bush was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor wrote in a strongly-worded 43-page opinion that the NSA wiretapping program violates privacy and free-speech rights and the constitutional separation of powers between the three branches of government. She also found that it violates a 1978 law set up to oversee clandestine surveillance.
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The judge’s opinion
Glenn Greenwald, a lawyer and blogger, has much more analysis on this legal topic: [Read more →]
Tags: Domestic Spying, National Intelligence, Security by ecthompson
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