"I love democracy. I love the Republic." (applause) "The power you give me I will lay down when the threat is over." (applause)
Posted on 11/19/2002 5:54:56 AM PST by KLT
Burning the Constitution
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Secret court OKs government spying on Americans
By REUTERS
Nov 19, 2002, 07:32
In a victory for the Bush administration, a secretive appeals court Monday ruled the U.S. government has the right to use expanded powers to wiretap terrorism suspects under a law adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The ruling was a blow to civil libertarians who say the expanded powers, which allow greater leeway in conducting electronic surveillance and in using information obtained from the wiretaps and searches, jeopardize constitutional rights.
In a 56-page ruling overturning a May opinion by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge appeals court panel said the Patriot Act gave the government the right to expanded powers.
Sweeping anti-terror legislation, called the USA Patriot Act and signed into law in October last year after the hijacked plane attacks, makes it easier for investigators andprosecutors to share information obtained by surveillance and searches.
In the May ruling, the seven judges that comprise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court unanimously told the government it had gone too far in interpreting the law to allow broad information sharing.
The Justice Department appealed, saying the order limited the kind of coordination needed to protect national security.
Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed Monday's ruling and said he was immediately implementing new regulations and working to expedite the surveillance process.
"The court of review's action revolutionizes our ability to investigate terrorists and prosecute terrorist acts," he said. "This decision does allow law enforcement officials to learn from intelligence officials and vice versa."
FOURTH AMENDMENT ISSUES
Civil liberties groups, which had urged the appeals court -- comprised of three appeals court judges named by Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- to uphold the court's order, slammed the ruling.
"We are deeply disappointed with the decision, which suggests that this special court exists only to rubber-stamp government applications for intrusive surveillance warrants," said Ann Beeson of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The groups had argued that broader government surveillance powers would violate the Fourth Amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
But the appeals court said the procedures as required under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were reasonable.
"We think the procedures and government showings required under FISA, if they do not meet the minimum Fourth Amendment warrant standards, certainly come close," the judges wrote in their ruling, which was partially declassified and published.
"We, therefore, believe firmly ... that FISA as amended is constitutional because the surveillances it authorizes are reasonable."
Ashcroft said the government would uphold the Constitution. "We have no desire whatever to, in any way, erode or undermine the constitutional liberties here," he said.
The appeal is the first since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court and appeals court were created in 1978 to authorize wiretap requests in foreign intelligence investigations. Under the procedures, all hearings and decisions of the courts are conducted in secret.
The appeal hearing was not public, and only the Justice Department's top appellate lawyer, Theodore Olson, presented arguments.
Although the court allowed "friend of the court" briefs to be filed by civil liberties groups and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, since the Justice Department was the only party the ruling can likely not be appealed.
"This is a major Constitutional decision that will affect every American's privacy rights, yet there is no way anyone but the government can automatically appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court," Beeson said.
© Copyright 2002 by Capitol Hill Blue
That coming destruction is the judgement of the Lord when he returns. It has nothing to do with easedropping, giving up liberty for safety... or the FBI. It is a little insulting to a christian when people twist scripture to imply something that it doesn't.
Regardless of one's views on the Patriot Act, this is a peculiar legal ruling. Isn't it required that a law meet the standards of the Constitution, not come close? I would have thought that the court would have mandated an interpretation of the law that would meet what it deemed to be the requirements of the Fourth Amendment.
{crickets}
"In a 56-page ruling..."
These are quotes from the article. Capital Hill Blue is off-base in at least one respect, and it is this: What in the world is a "secretive appeals court" that issues "a 56-page ruling"? What's so secretive about an appellate court?
Cordially,
It's REUTERS. Capital Hill Blue just ran it.
I should have known.
Cordially,
"I love democracy. I love the Republic." (applause) "The power you give me I will lay down when the threat is over." (applause)
They must learn to control themselves with this new, unappealable law....it gives them sweeping rights over our privacy and lives...
There's no doubt, we need to find the animals that are capable of blowing us up again (and no doubt, they are here)....but that doesn't include us...and all other law abiding Americans.
Immigration fraud 'out of control' - General Accounting Office slams INS for rampant problems
From the above link:
In a report released Feb. 15, GAO concluded that immigration benefit fraud is "pervasive and significant and will increase as smugglers and other criminal enterprises use fraud as another means of bringing illegal aliens, including criminal aliens, into the country."
The General Accounting Office has concluded that immigration fraud is rampant, even helping to open the door for terrorism, and that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has no idea how to get it under control.
And a bit more info on the subject..
You forgot the </sarcasm> tag
Yes.
"Human beings will generally exercise power when they can get it, and they will exercise it most undoubtedly in popular governments under pretense of public safety." -- Daniel Webster
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken
We do indeed live in interesting times.
YES you are right....this is completely wrong...we are loaded with illegals and foreigners with criminal backgrounds...remember the Clintooon/Gore Citizenship USA Program....What a SCAM!
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