NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional

[Nephythys]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

It isn't an issue of opinion but of fact. Read the dang opinion.



Bolding mine.

The statutory law with which the judge finds the government out of compliance is FISA (see page 28, 31 of the PDF). The finding is that the government has intentionally tried to circumvent FISA. That if anybody isn't showing respect for FISA it is the president of the United States.

I clearly misread something on another site- gonna look at it more before commenting again on it.

Though I still stand by denial of the stuff posted by JWBear- thanks

[Alex]

However, in criticism of the court's opinion I find the First Amendment finding to be spurious. Essentially it says that the wiretapping is a violation of the First Amendment since it has a cooling effect on the willingness of other people to communicate with the plaintiffs.

However, this is true of all wiretaps, whether legal or not. So, if the wiretapping were otherwise ruled legal I don't see how the judge could hold up the First Amendment issue as grounds for injunction. Therefore it seems to me that inclusion of this section is just distracting fluff without any real weight.

I do find the 4th Amendment ruling (that FISA created very specific exceptions to otherwise standard 4th Amendment law and the program under question violates even those looser requirements) very compelling however.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

...Though I still stand by denial of the stuff posted by JWBear- thanks

Thanks Nephy. That just warms the cockles of my heart.