'King George III could not have wished for more'
Orwellian opinion
Bruce Fein, The Washington Times
July 10, 2007
George Orwell could not have improved upon the opinion of Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency (July 6, 2007), a decision which fits comfortably within the pages of "1984."
The opinion pivoted on a technical jurisdictional issue lawyers call "lack of standing," i.e., the asserted failure of the plaintiffs to allege the defendants' challenged conduct had caused them concrete injury that would be cured by a ruling in their favor. Without standing, a plaintiff cannot contest the legality of government action in federal courts. Thus, in denying standing in ACLU premised on the belief President Bush and his spy agencies are angels, Judge Batchelder fled from a judicial determination of the constitutionality of the post-September 11, 2001, domestic warrantless surveillance program (WSP). It is operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and targets American citizens on American soil on the president's say-so alone in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).
Whereas FISA requires a warrant issued by an independent and impartial federal judge based on probable cause to believe the target is implicated in international terrorism or activity on behalf of a foreign power, the WSP permits the NSA to spy on Americans based on its belief the target may be linked to al Qaeda. But as to a hammer everything is a nail, to a spy agency every dissident or critic seems a probable terrorist or foreign agent.
Remember the government's spying on the likes of John Lennon, Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein. Moreover, whereas FISA requires the government to destroy intercepted communications that prove innocuous, the WSP lacks any corresponding obligation enforceable by the judiciary. Finally, the NSA had been hijacked for nonforeign intelligence purposes prior to enactment of FISA as unearthed by the so-called "Church Committee" of the U.S. Senate.
(The rest is here.)
Bruce Fein, The Washington Times
July 10, 2007
George Orwell could not have improved upon the opinion of Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency (July 6, 2007), a decision which fits comfortably within the pages of "1984."
The opinion pivoted on a technical jurisdictional issue lawyers call "lack of standing," i.e., the asserted failure of the plaintiffs to allege the defendants' challenged conduct had caused them concrete injury that would be cured by a ruling in their favor. Without standing, a plaintiff cannot contest the legality of government action in federal courts. Thus, in denying standing in ACLU premised on the belief President Bush and his spy agencies are angels, Judge Batchelder fled from a judicial determination of the constitutionality of the post-September 11, 2001, domestic warrantless surveillance program (WSP). It is operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and targets American citizens on American soil on the president's say-so alone in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA).
Whereas FISA requires a warrant issued by an independent and impartial federal judge based on probable cause to believe the target is implicated in international terrorism or activity on behalf of a foreign power, the WSP permits the NSA to spy on Americans based on its belief the target may be linked to al Qaeda. But as to a hammer everything is a nail, to a spy agency every dissident or critic seems a probable terrorist or foreign agent.
Remember the government's spying on the likes of John Lennon, Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein. Moreover, whereas FISA requires the government to destroy intercepted communications that prove innocuous, the WSP lacks any corresponding obligation enforceable by the judiciary. Finally, the NSA had been hijacked for nonforeign intelligence purposes prior to enactment of FISA as unearthed by the so-called "Church Committee" of the U.S. Senate.
(The rest is here.)
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