Little-Acorn
12-16-2013, 04:21 PM
Sounds like the Judiciary is starting to realize what normal people have known all along: The government indiscriminatingly gathering data on what people are doing, who they are calling, etc. without a warrant, is a violation of the 4th amendment.
Chief Justice John Roberts has proven adept at rewriting laws and ruling them Constitutional. He might have a little more trouble rewriting physical actions, such as data collection, though. Might he simply rewrite the 4th amendment instead?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized, unless the government official really, really wants to have the things to be seized, in which case it is OK.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
by JOSH GERSTEIN
12/16/13 1:36 PM EST
Updated: 12/16/13 3:51 PM EST
A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
Chief Justice John Roberts has proven adept at rewriting laws and ruling them Constitutional. He might have a little more trouble rewriting physical actions, such as data collection, though. Might he simply rewrite the 4th amendment instead?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized, unless the government official really, really wants to have the things to be seized, in which case it is OK.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
by JOSH GERSTEIN
12/16/13 1:36 PM EST
Updated: 12/16/13 3:51 PM EST
A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.