Terror threat sparks Newton librarian/FBI standoff

Boston Herald ^ | 01/25/06 | Dan Atkinson

[tpaine]

Yep, we're at war. But due process under our Constitution still applies. Always has, always will.

The Commander in Chief has wartime powers, but they do not include ignoring any part of the Constitution.

That is debatable. Debatable because the Constitution does not so say --

The Presidents oath of office gives him no leeway, nor does the Constitutions 14th allow any on due process.

and yet if during the extraodrinary times of War, Insurrection and General Riot, the continuance of rights named in the Bill of Rights and the right to public trial by jury should have been specified because by the common law of the time they did not so continue -- at least in full -- without timely exception accorded a situation at hand, because of the necessity of prompt action in the three extreme situations I listed.

Sure, prompt action is needed at times during wars. -- But an ongoing war on terrorism, much as our Indian wars of the 1800's, did not excuse any ongoing suspension of individual liberties.

The Constitution also has a number of hints. One that the Chief Executive is also Commander-On-Chief. Two that our governmental form is that of s strong and independent Chief Executive, and not a weaker-powered Prime Minister. And a third is the order of objectives listed in the Premable. Securing the blessings of Liberty (that is the rights of people) is last, and providing for the common defense and ensuring domestic trnaquility are precedent.

None of your 'hints' allow our rights to be infringed.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

I wouldn't have a dram of sympathy if the place was hit with WMDs. Liberal garbage.

[The Electrician]

It doesn't seem that the wait caused them to lose any information that they needed. It was still there.

On what information did you base that first statement? Just because the physical computer was still there does not mean that evidence was not altered or destroyed during the intervening time. I do not see where the article states that the computer in question was removed from service, or disconnected from the Internet (it is entirely possible that the message was actually sent through that computer via a trojan horse program running there rather than by a human being at the keyboard), or kept continuously in view of the Feds, or even whether or not it may have been tampered with by the librarian during the time when the Feds were waiting for the warrant to issue...