Posted on 11/26/2002 2:29:50 PM PST by Sparta
WASHINGTON — The government agreed to tell the American Civil Liberties Union by Jan. 15 which documents it would release about increased surveillance in the United States under a law passed in response to the terrorist attacks.
In response to a suit brought by the ACLU and other groups, the Justice Department also said it would supply a list of documents that it would keep confidential, citing national security concerns. The ACLU could challenge the decision to withhold any documents.
The agreement was reached Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who is hearing the case growing out of an Aug. 21 request filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The civil liberties group wants to know how the government is carrying out the USA PATRIOT Act, passed in response to Sept. 11. The new law gives the government new powers to obtain personal information about U.S. citizens in an attempt to stop future terrorist attacks.
ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer asked for a specific date for the Justice Department to provide the information, saying that another federal judge set a deadline for the Energy Department to release documents and e-mails concerning Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. "It's reasonable to ask for a fixed date," he said.
Justice Department lawyer Anthony J. Coppolino said the government needed until mid-January because the ACLU request was being reviewed by several agencies. He said the government had produced 163 pages of information, but needed to check with the various agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service, intelligence and the criminal division to see if the information could be released.
Huvelle said the government was working toward meeting the ACLU's request.
"This is a matter of great public interest," Huvelle said. "I am not unimpressed by the efforts of the government to comply. The government is moving heaven and earth to get what you want."
The ACLU asked the Justice Department for the number of times it has asked libraries or bookstores for lists of purchases or for the identities of those who have bought certain books; how many times law enforcement officials have entered people's homes without letting them know until later; how many times they have approved phone traces of people not accused of any crimes; and how many times they have investigated Americans for writing letters to newspapers, attending rallies or other First Amendment-protected activities.
"It could have been the patriot act. The bottom line is that the government can surreptitiously enter a home or business." - watcher1
Or not. You can't show the "offending" language, and you probably haven't even read it, yet you feel free to make wild-eyed claims about the very laws that you haven't even read.
Telling...
Made what up?
The government can enter your home or business ( without your knowledge) and does not have to tell you until afterward. That is part of one of these new anti-terror laws.
I hope you're not saying that's not true?
It is true
Big Brother is watching you
That's quite a bit different from your earlier claims of legalized burglary. You seem to be backing off of your original wild-eyed claim. That's good. It's not like you were ever going to post a source to support your earlier rants, since no such source exists.
What you've posted now makes it sound as though the government still has to (gasp) get a search warrant from a judge first, and then show it to you after a search.
Who knows, that might even be accurate.
It's certainly Constitutional.
No, it's legalized burglary. It's not constitutional.
Unlike a conventional search warrant, the gov does not have to tell you they were there.
You may or may not ever know about the search.
How long are we going to beat this dead horse?
Big Brother is watching
How would you know? You haven't even read the bill, and you certainly don't have the talent to post it here (especially since that sort of language doesn't exist in it).
You're just making it up and spreading urban legends. Oooh, big brother is watching you (cue scary music in the background).
I've seen tabloids with more credibility than you.
The HSA still requires the government to go before a judge and get a search warrant. That's Constitutional.
You are welcome to try to point out specificly WHY forcing the government to get search warrants is unconstitutional, but just as you failed to find the language in the HSA to support your earlier wild-eyed claims, so too will you fail in whatever feeble efforts you do manage to attempt to put together towards this new end.
(Cue scary music) Big brother is watching you, ooooooooooh, run, flee, be frightened! < /MOCKING >
Nonsense, and you know it.
You're a real funny boy
Big Brother is watching you
Just keep insulting me. That'll make your point
The truth is that these laws are the foundation of a future Police State
Big Brother is searching you
No, the truth is that you haven't read the laws in question.
Moreover, you can't find the paragraphs in those laws that would support your wild-eyed claims (probably because such language isn't in them to begin with).
You're basing your entire opinion on fabrications of what is allegedly inside those bills.
And that's why you don't post the language that is in them.
(cue scary music) Oooooooooooh, Big Brother is watching you. Be scared everyone, be real scared! < /MOCKING >
Nonsense. Learn to pay for things in cash next time kid.
Yep. Let's start calling it that
Yes!
Big Brother is Watching you
Orwell would approve. After all, the HSA has nothing to do with creating a police state, so calling it the Police State Act would fit right in with people who don't even read the bill.
Sort of along the lines of Goebels calling his propaganda organ the Ministry of Truth.
No wonder you approve...
Hummm...... you'd fit right in!
I see that you still haven't managed to post the language of the HSA that would support your earlier wild-eyed claims.It must be tough getting called to the carpet.
Next time, read the bill before you go making up more urban legends.
Just keep telling yourself that
Big Brother is Really watching you.
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