[SmithL]

Walker, Vaughn R.

Born 1944 in Watseka, IL

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by George H.W. Bush on September 7, 1989, to a seat vacated by Spencer M. Williams; Confirmed by the Senate on November 21, 1989, and received commission on November 27, 1989. Served as chief judge, 2004-present.

Education:
University of Michigan, A.B., 1966

Stanford Law School, J.D., 1970

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Robert J. Kelleher, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1971-1972
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1972-1990

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

[capt. norm]

Anna Diggs Taylor making hewre decision:

[fieldmarshaldj]

For a moment, I thought that said Bush buggering in San Francisco...

[weegee]

The justices rejected an appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of journalists, lawyers and academics who believed their phone and e-mail messages were being intercepted.

The dirty little secret is that they HAVE been communicating with people they know to be international terrorists.

Time Magazine has a reporter imbedded with them. He was interviewed on Frontline and was with "the insurgents" at the time of Saddam's capture.

He later was escorted in (and sheiled from kidnap and murder) by his terrorist pals as he roamed among Al Qaeda agents.

They commit TREASON. They don't want to be executed for their crimes of supporting the enmey in a time of war.

They claim to be "neutral observers" but they have no qualms about leaking Ameircan military secrets.

They are not impartial in this war and should be prosecuted as the traitors they are.

[preacher]

ping

[untrained skeptic]

Instead, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the plaintiffs had no right to sue because they couldn't prove - because of the secrecy of the program - that their calls had been monitored. The plaintiffs' claim that they had to alter their communications with overseas clients and sources because of possible government eavesdropping wasn't enough to establish legal standing, the court said.

The ACLU argued that the ruling allowed the administration to shield its actions from judicial scrutiny, but the Supreme Court denied review Tuesday without comment. The action leaves two legal challenges alive, both in San Francisco.

It's not just that they couldn't PROVE that they had been spied upon. They didn't have any evidence at all that they had been spied upon. They didn't even have reasonable basis for their suspicions.

If the courts allowed this to go forward, we wouldn't have any national security secrets. Any conspiracy theorist could simply say that had a theory that their rights might have been infringed upon, and therefore had a right to know the details of any government program that they suspected might somehow be infringing on their rights.