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White House All Tapped Out of Intelligence

THURSDAY AUGUST 17 2006 10:00 PM

Submitted by legionnaire. Edited By legionnaire.

TAGS: NSA, wiretap, Bush, White House, ruling

Last year's biggest and most troubling political scandal from the perspective of civil libertarians and privacy advocates alike was the revelation that the Bush White House was illegally spying on US citizens by setting up wiretaps without the express authority of the FISA court set up just for this purpose. The hammer finally came down today, with a federal court smacking Bush upside the head with a ruling that his wiretap program violated first and fourth amendment rights.

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Thursday ordered the NSA and �its agents, employees, representatives and any other persons or entities in active concert or participation� with the agency to halt the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program.

The program allowed the NSA to monitor communications between U.S. residents and people in other countries with suspected ties to terrorist group al Qaeda, without getting court-ordered warrants.

The program, authorized by U.S. President George Bush in 2002, violates the U.S. Constitution�s guarantees of freedom of speech and association and its prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures, Taylor wrote in her order. The NSA program also violates the separation of powers clause in the Constitution, she wrote, as well as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which set courts to issue warrants for wiretaps focused on counterintelligence.

�The public interest is clear, in this matter,� Taylor wrote. �It is the upholding of our Constitution.�

It's nice to see someone in power finally take the perspective that the Bush administration's long standing National Security trump card in fact does not hold sway over constitutional limitations on his power. Gonzales' argument essentially boiled down to the program''s efficacy and how it has made Americans safer by stopping would-be terrorists. Despite his and his boss' disdain for the separation of powers and the constitution that created them, one might expect the Attorney General to be familiar enough with the document to realize that the courts are not there to enforce the laws in the most effective fashion, but to decide whether their enforcement or existence is legitimate in the first place. In this case, they're not. Not surprisingly, the White House disagrees.

�We couldn�t disagree more with this ruling,� [White House spokesman Tony] Snow added. �The whole point is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks before they can be carried out. That�s what the American people expect from their government, and it is the President�s most solemn duty to ensure their protection.�

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday it has already appealed Taylor�s order. The NSA program is a �critical tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent a terrorist attack,� the DOJ said in a statement.

Too fucking bad. You know what would be a really effective way to stop terrorism in the US? To lock up every single civilian and keep them all under nonstop surveillance, with all communications monitored constantly. I'll bet that would reduce terrorism. But the fact is, that's not the country that we've chosen to create, and even with the gaping security holes that riddle our society the US has managed to last quite a while with a remarkably low number of terrorist attacks against it. And that's with constitutional restrictions on legislative and executive powers intact. Knowing that, even the national security argument is in no way a compelling reason to toss aside our constitutional liberties, and it's nice to see the courts agree.

15 Comments

MisterGone

Burnsville, MN

March 2006

AUG 17, 2006 10:18 PM

Hear fucking hear! About time the courts rejecting the fear mongering tactics Bush and Co. have been using since 911, lets hope this is just the beginning...

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 17, 2006 10:29 PM

one more 9/11 level attack and locking up the civvies wont be much of a powermonger fantasy, but a harsh reality....

and the Reign of America's second King George will begin, and will continue untill a burned man in a Guy Fawkes mask stirs up enough rebellion to blow up congress....

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 17, 2006 10:49 PM

Ubiquitous_Waz said:

MschfMayhemSoap said:
one more 9/11 level attack and locking up the civvies wont be much of a powermonger fantasy, but a harsh reality....

and the Reign of America's second King George will begin, and will continue untill a burned man in a Guy Fawkes mask stirs up enough rebellion to blow up congress....

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I'm going to watch that movie right now... then i'm going to reincode it and put it on my PSP mem stick... for no good reason.

"What do you thinks gonna happen?"
"The same thing that always happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns."

ONe of my favorite lines. and I fear its an omen of our current path.

BoneDaddyCash

Spokane, WA

April 2005

AUG 17, 2006 11:11 PM

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I'll join with the masked man if it comes to that, no matter how krispy he may be.

Also, Nice DT reference =).

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 17, 2006 11:40 PM

NailCoffin said:

MschfMayhemSoap said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

I'll join with the masked man if it comes to that, no matter how krispy he may be.

Also, Nice DT reference =).

I use it whenever the world goes completely insane, even by todays medical standards.

MrCrisp

Charleston, SC

August 2004

AUG 17, 2006 11:45 PM

The program allowed the NSA to monitor communications between U.S. residents and people in other countries with suspected ties to terrorist group al Qaeda, without getting court-ordered warrants.

The program, authorized by U.S. President George Bush in 2002, violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of freedom of speech and association and its prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures, Taylor wrote in her order. The NSA program also violates the separation of powers clause in the Constitution, she wrote, as well as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which set courts to issue warrants for wiretaps focused on counterintelligence.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 17, 2006 11:47 PM

MrCrisp said:

quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

"But who watches the Watchers"??

MrCrisp

Charleston, SC

August 2004

AUG 17, 2006 11:49 PM

MschfMayhemSoap said:

MrCrisp said:

quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

"But who watches the Watchers"??

"who watches the watchmen?" dude, another alan moore reference. you fail at life.

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 17, 2006 11:53 PM

MrCrisp said:

MschfMayhemSoap said:

MrCrisp said:

quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

"But who watches the Watchers"??

"who watches the watchmen?" dude, another alan moore reference. you fail at life.

so ..... Ive got a future in the NSA?

tnashtn

Nashville, TN

November 2003

AUG 18, 2006 01:07 AM

we'll see what happens, when it's appealed. i have the feeling the dog and pony show ain't over yet...

FilthPig

Portland, OR

December 2005

AUG 18, 2006 01:44 AM

it will be appealed... and it will ultimately come down to the final judges politics... maybe supreme court... but remember.. congress authorized a lot of the shit people bag on Bush for... he's the president... only there for 8 years max... congress... there for as long as people keep voting them in... so maybe it's time to vote them out if you don't agree with whats going on?(even if you do agree for that matter, most of the senate has been there waaaaaaaaaay too long)

FilthPig

Portland, OR

December 2005

AUG 18, 2006 01:56 AM

That being said, I'm kinda conservative, and this particular spying program isn't good...

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA

July 2004

AUG 18, 2006 06:47 AM

FilthPig said:
it will be appealed... and it will ultimately come down to the final judges politics... maybe supreme court... but remember.. congress authorized a lot of the shit people bag on Bush for...

Not in this case they didn't.

he's the president... only there for 8 years max... congress... there for as long as people keep voting them in... so maybe it's time to vote them out if you don't agree with whats going on?(even if you do agree for that matter, most of the senate has been there waaaaaaaaaay too long)

Totally irrelevant. Especially since no one outside of a few people knew about this program until after the '04 elections. What're we supposed to do, get Superman to go back in time to re-vote?

The most we can do is impeach him for high crimes and misdemeanors. Unfortunately, as Republicans still control Congress, that's not going to happen. So we can work to retake Congress, which we are.

In the MEANTIME however, it is our patriotic and constitutional duty to decry the excesses and failures of this administration as loudly as possible. And that's what we're doing. So kindly lay off the "he's the president and you can vote him out if you don't agree with him" schtick, please. It adds nothing to the conversation.

baudot

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

AUG 18, 2006 12:33 PM

What are you people doing talking about this?
Didn't you hear about the breakthrough in the JonBenet that was manufactured on the same day as this, anyway?

Look at the monkey! Look at the monkey!!!

MschfMayhemSoap

Phoenix, AZ

April 2006

AUG 18, 2006 05:30 PM

baudot said:
What are you people doing talking about this?
Didn't you hear about the breakthrough in the JonBenet that was manufactured on the same day as this, anyway?

Look at the monkey! Look at the monkey!!!

Careful with that..... a Juror's head exploded the last time Cochran tried that....

heheh.... South Park rules...