General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: it isn't the legalities...it's the betrayal that's pissing people off [View all]HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)...that Congress in general approves of the surveillence state because they recieve campaign funding from the private contractors profiting from govt contracts, and they can crow they are being tough on terrorists (despite evidence the program does little to nothing in combatting terrorism).
The Supreme Court can only rule on the constitutionality if the law is previously challenged in lower courts. The Obama Administration has blocked all lawsuits against the program, alleging that National Security will be compromised, or that the suit filer couldn't prove they had been spied on (while blocking the release of evidence in discovery).
Its truly an out of control program. The NSA budget is almost twice that of the CIA. About 70% of the budget goes to private contractors. There is little oversight from Congress...the govt hides most information from them, and Congress is bribed by the contractors to look away. The secret FISA court is the only Judicial oversight...of the thousands of warrants requested since Obama took office, only one was rejected. And of course, the FISA Court has no enforcement powers...they only rule on warrant requests and have no authority or power to physically prevent warrantless spying.
Furthermore, it appears there has been an Orwellian effort to redefine language..."foreign surviellence" now means at least 50% foreign surveillence, resulting in 85% of the warrents being issued for common domestic drug crimes in 2011. There is also circumstantial evidence the program has been used to spy on political opponents, like Occupy, but the govt refuses to release that information.
Obama is the Chief Executive. He appointed the people running this program. It is his job to supervise his appointees. If they aren't doing the job he wants, they get fired. None have been fired, so logical to assume they are conducting operation according to Obama's desires.
Congress is only going to step up to the plate and conduct the oversight they should if the public outcry is deafening.