Posted on 05/05/2004 7:53:36 AM PDT by Just another Joe
Secret law, secret lawsuit
(snip) To no one's surprise, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit challenging the constitutionality of parts of the USA Patriot Act, the sweeping security law passed in the immediate aftermath of 9-11.
To what should be everyone's shock, the mere fact of the lawsuit was kept secret under provisions of the act.
"It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," said the ACLU. Remarkable and also scary.
(snip) National Security Letters are a kind of subpoena that doesn't require a judge's approval, only the FBI's say-so, to covertly obtain personal information from banks, telephone companies, Internet providers, libraries, credit bureaus, etc. Recipients of NSLs are barred by a gag order from disclosing that they have received one. The Patriot Act greatly eased the restrictions on NSLs so that the FBI could act quickly in national security cases.
But the ACLU contends, "As a result of the Patriot Act, the FBI may now use NSLs to obtain sensitive information about innocent individuals who have no connection to espionage or terrorism." No one wants to tip off the target of a valid investigation, but given the past misuse of the FBI for political purposes this is not an unrealistic fear.
(Excerpt) Read more at cincypost.com ...
A clause in the Patriot act that says constitutional challenges to the act must be kept secret?
Hmmmmmmm
Understand that I'm not rooting for the ACLU but the fact that the government has to give permission for the lawsuit to even be mentioned to the public doesn't sit right with me.
As for Patriot Act II, let's not get into that just yet.
Actually, yes. 18 USC Section 2709(c) prohibits anyone from disclosing that an NSL has even been issued. Since this case is about issued NSLs, they are prohibited by law from even talking about it.
Their agreement with the DoJ ends up with them releasing a heavily redacted complaint that eliminates almost all information about the joint plaintiff (an ISP what was issued NSLs) and the specific case involving that ISP.
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