Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional

politico.com ^ | 12/16/13 | JOSH GERSTEIN

[ColdOne]

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 to be unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called metadata had helped to head off terrorist attacks.

[BenLurkin]

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/Uh_Yeah.mp3

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Unconstitutional?

What does that have to do with anything in the Age of Ubama?

[Jack of all Trades]

Ya think? o.0

[abb]

http://www.lawfareblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Klayman.pdf

[bunkerhill7]

Tell it to the Judge.

[Sacajaweau]

Is he trying to say Snowden is a “man for the people”....

[Zathras]

Finally!
I expect the DOJ to spend the next 3 years trying to block it from reaching the SCOUS

[dragnet2]

Government is operating criminally and illegally?

What a shocker !!!

[Logical me]

There is very little Constitutional law left in America that the communists Democrats have not destroyed.

[DoughtyOne]

Who could have seen this coming?

LMAO...

[SkyDancer]

Likely?? You mean a “chance” ....

[Da Coyote]

“Constitution? Schmonstitution! We don’t need no stinkin’ constitution.”

signed, Dork-O-Dent Bar-da-Deck Obmaloon.

[servantboy777]

Freaking Duh!

[Gene Eric]

>> He also said the Justice Department had failed...

All three branches are likely entangled in the alleged violations.

How many of our “representatives” are addressing the privacy concerns expressed by the citizens? There must be a few, but I can’t name one.

[AppyPappy]

Carney: “A racist and extreme federal judge ruled that...”

[AppyPappy]

He ruled that illegal wiretaps are illegal.

[lee martell]

O.K. Judge, it’s unconstitutional. I could have told you that. So now whatcha gonna do about it? Furrow your brow? Oh Dear!

[BuffaloJack]

Wouldn’t it be nice if the corrective action was a judicial order to destroy the database and all the phone records it contains?

[Cboldt]

There is a long history government wiretapping. In the Olmstead case (1928), SCOTUS said there is no expectation of privacy in a phone call. No warrant required. That changed in 1967, in the Katz case, whereby investigators need a warrant (with some exceptions).

So, the government gets around that by saying the NSA is not an investigating body. It merely gathers information. The investigators still need a warrant, but once they have the warrant, they can access the NSA database.