The 5th District Democrats Social Network
Fighting for Freedom, Families, Jobs and Justice
Warrantless Wiretapping Expansion
News this week (7 Apr 2009): THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS EMBRACED BUSH'S POSITION ON WARANTLESS WIRETAPPING, and goes one step further than the previous administration. In a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, the Obama Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) made two deeply troubling arguments.
First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They asserted that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security." As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence.
Second, the DOJ claimed that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying because the USA PATRIOT Act renders the U.S. immune from suit under the two remaining key federal surveillance laws: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one -- not the White House, not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the Bush Administration -- has ever interpreted the law this way.
This isn't change we can believe in. This is change for the worse. I urge you to contact your senators, representatives, members of the Obama adminstration, and the Democratic party to voice your opposition to this expanded intrusion into our FREEDOM, JUSTICE, and CIVIL RIGHTS.
For more info, see EFF newsletter:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush
First, they argued, exactly as the Bush Administration did on countless occasions, that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue out of hand. They asserted that simply allowing the case to continue "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security." As in the past, this is a blatant ploy to dismiss the litigation without allowing the courts to consider the evidence.
Second, the DOJ claimed that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying because the USA PATRIOT Act renders the U.S. immune from suit under the two remaining key federal surveillance laws: the Wiretap Act and the Stored Communications Act. This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one -- not the White House, not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the Bush Administration -- has ever interpreted the law this way.
This isn't change we can believe in. This is change for the worse. I urge you to contact your senators, representatives, members of the Obama adminstration, and the Democratic party to voice your opposition to this expanded intrusion into our FREEDOM, JUSTICE, and CIVIL RIGHTS.
For more info, see EFF newsletter:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush
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