Judge Declares FBI Surveillance Gag Orders Unconstitutional

[Ichingcarpenter]

They are used by the FBI to bypass courts and conduct secret surveillance. But now, in what could prove to be a major blow to the Department of Justice, a federal court has found that National Security Letters are unconstitutional.

In a ruling released today, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said that NSLs suffer from “significant constitutional defects” and violate the First Amendment because of the way they can be used to effectively gag companies that receive them. Illston has ordered the FBI to stop issuing NSLs and cease enforcing their gag provisions in all cases. However, the ruling has been stayed for 90 days, giving the government the chance to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals because of the “constitutional and national security issues at stake.”

NSLs were created in the late 1970s to help the FBI obtain information about suspected foreign spies. But their use was expanded under the Patriot Act following 9/11, and they can now be used to order companies to provide data on Americans. Last week, Google disclosed that it had been forced to hand over data on thousands of its users in recent years after being served with NSLs—but it was able to divulge only vague information, rather than exact numbers. A company that receives a NSL can be forbidden from talking about it with anyone but a lawyer, or else potentially face years in prison.

The California case was brought in 2011 by civil rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing a telecom company that has not yet been named. "We are very pleased that the court recognized the fatal constitutional shortcomings of the NSL statute," EFF senior staff attorney Matt Zimmerman said in a statement today following the ruling. "The government's gags have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools


http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/15/susan_illston_district_court_judge_declares_national_security_letters_unconstitutional.html


Mueller and Holder take that !!!

[graham4anything]

1. Two sides to a story- I make BOTH arguments here myself devil's advocate style

If OBL knew he was being listened in on, do you think he would have waited in his house like he did?

Apply this further, had Timid McCoward not been arrested by good detective work and a lucky break, or the Son of Sam, would they have hung around the place their phone was coming from to await their arrest?

Bad people out there doing worse than bad things.

3000 people died on 9-11.
The potential for far worse is greater.

Who would not have wanted the CONN. shooter to be caught a day before he did it by any means possible?
I bet the families of those killed would all agree on that.

Though I myself feel terrorists have lost all their constitutional rights in their attempts to terrorize and/or overthrow the government with their stockpiled guns, so anything goes
in a new world without borders, where there is worse here than is there, which before Oklahoma City, had not happened in 100 years

Who would not have wanted the asswipes that killed Dr. Tiller, John Lennon, RKF, JFK, Dr. King or Gianni Versace to have been stopped anyway by any means possible the day before they did it?
I really could have given two spits if awww poor babies, their constittutional rights had been taken away, because they took away ALL the constitutional rights of the people they killed.
Who cares about their rights? Look what their rights enabled them to do.


=============================================

Or taking the other argument-
This is a good thing and a step toward our great President and a constitutional scholar, who in 2018 will ascend to the US Supreme Court, making assured, all the I's dotted, all the T's crossed,as he would know how, that a different president won't be able to do any of the things that Bush did.
That 10 step ahead thingy that President Obama has NOT been wrong on yet.
This may just be another case of President Obama rope'a'doping' the Bush family and dismantling what they did one piece of legislation at a time.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Your ramblings don't mention

JUST GET A FUCKING COURT ORDER
DON'T BYPASS THE SYSTEM.
Then wiretap.

That's the fucking constitution.

[graham4anything]

3. Yeah, assuming there are NO moles of course

The mafia always has people placed everywhere, same as most juries are rigged, which is why I for one don't support any legal trial where the guilty verdict is not 100% possible.

Because someone, say for instance like Jolly Ollie back in the Contra/Irani days is a national hero for f-g the system good, in advance knowing how to play the trial for a quick and speedy tech removal of all charges.

Instead of jail time, he became a national hero.

It took a decade to get OBL, painstakingly slow but through great detective work.
Moles would have ensured that not happen.

How can one be sure there is no mole in the judges office?


But anyhow, had you read my piece, this is President Obama rope'a'doping anyhow, because it will ensure a Jeb Bush from not doing what his brother did, if Democratic voters are as stupid as they were in 2000 or 2010 and don't come out to vote, or vote for the Ralph Nader's who are the co-writers of the Patriot Act to start off with.


As Benjamin Franklin said "An ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of cure"
and the President Obama team is ensuring the cure will be 4000 score and 20 years of lifetime one.
President Obama and President Lincoln did make sure to dot all the I's and cross all the T's.
Which is why at the end of the day, they shall rank #1 and #2 on the all-time best President list.

BTW, overthrowing the government is a constitutional no-no.
There are rules for Benedict Arnolds.
Thankfully so.

But anyhow, you seemed to neglect the part in my post that said I was taking BOTH sides,
devil's advocate style, so you seemed to have missed the bottom part of the post I made.
read it again.
President Obama is roping'the dopes yet again, and will ensure no President after him can do what the Bush's did. (assuming of course that the Bush's don't come back into power and that Hillary wins over Jeb...because of course, as we know, Jeb would dismantle any forward movement won, especially if he kept part of the congress.