The US Appeals Court provided a shot across the bow of the US Congress. Why would a court do that?
May 7, 2015
By Jonathan Stempel
...Ruling on a program (click here) revealed by former government security contractor Edward Snowden, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to collect Americans' calling records in bulk.
Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch wrote for a three-judge panel that Section 215, which addresses the FBI's ability to gather business records, could not be interpreted to have permitted the NSA to collect a "staggering" amount of phone records, contrary to claims by the Bush and Obama administrations.
"Such expansive development of government repositories of formerly private records would be an unprecedented contraction of the privacy expectations of all Americans," Lynch wrote in a 97-page decision. "We would expect such a momentous decision to be preceded by substantial debate, and expressed in unmistakable language. There is no evidence of such a debate."
The appeals court did not rule on whether the surveillance violated the U.S. Constitution.
It also declined to halt the program, noting that parts of the Patriot Act including Section 215 expire on June 1....
See, the US Congress read the judges decision differently than they should have. The USA Congress read that the program was constitutional and the judge was not halting the program realizing it was up for renewal on June 1, 2015.
Let's think about that a minute.
Rather than the Congress reading what they want into the decision and the DOCUMENT, they should have given pause to the NSA mess to realize if a US Appeals Court Judge went through a great deal of trouble to specify THE VULNERABILITIES of the NSA program, they would be running to fix it.
These guys just aren't very bright.
Senator Paul is correct. The NSA program, as it exists today, can set the very criminals they want to find free as the program will be brought through the entire court process which will very likely find it over reaches.
The Republican Majority, short of Senator Paul, is lazy. They don't want to change anything. There is the potential they don't know how to change it.
Senator Paul is the one Republican that 'gets it.' The NSA program is illegal and unconstitutional and will provide a window to allow criminals to walk. It is better to do without it, than compromise the security of the American people.
The Congress doesn't want to hear from a judge and why would that be?
Because it doesn't fit into their politics.
So.
The very program that is suppose to root out and find terrorists on the Homeland will be null and void when it counts the most.
The idea David Frum actually quoted algorithms as the reason the NSA program could never spy on Americans is the exactly the politics the Republicans adhere to. To realize how bizarre it is to put algorithms on the witness stand to prove the program works is about the equivalent of money being a citizen.
I suppose if Republicans want a military of drones to conquer the world algorithms will have to reassure the American people they are safe and their national security is intact.
I don't think so.
May 7, 2015
By Jonathan Stempel
...Ruling on a program (click here) revealed by former government security contractor Edward Snowden, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the Patriot Act did not authorize the National Security Agency to collect Americans' calling records in bulk.
Circuit Judge Gerard Lynch wrote for a three-judge panel that Section 215, which addresses the FBI's ability to gather business records, could not be interpreted to have permitted the NSA to collect a "staggering" amount of phone records, contrary to claims by the Bush and Obama administrations.
"Such expansive development of government repositories of formerly private records would be an unprecedented contraction of the privacy expectations of all Americans," Lynch wrote in a 97-page decision. "We would expect such a momentous decision to be preceded by substantial debate, and expressed in unmistakable language. There is no evidence of such a debate."
The appeals court did not rule on whether the surveillance violated the U.S. Constitution.
It also declined to halt the program, noting that parts of the Patriot Act including Section 215 expire on June 1....
See, the US Congress read the judges decision differently than they should have. The USA Congress read that the program was constitutional and the judge was not halting the program realizing it was up for renewal on June 1, 2015.
Let's think about that a minute.
Rather than the Congress reading what they want into the decision and the DOCUMENT, they should have given pause to the NSA mess to realize if a US Appeals Court Judge went through a great deal of trouble to specify THE VULNERABILITIES of the NSA program, they would be running to fix it.
These guys just aren't very bright.
Senator Paul is correct. The NSA program, as it exists today, can set the very criminals they want to find free as the program will be brought through the entire court process which will very likely find it over reaches.
The Republican Majority, short of Senator Paul, is lazy. They don't want to change anything. There is the potential they don't know how to change it.
Senator Paul is the one Republican that 'gets it.' The NSA program is illegal and unconstitutional and will provide a window to allow criminals to walk. It is better to do without it, than compromise the security of the American people.
The Congress doesn't want to hear from a judge and why would that be?
Because it doesn't fit into their politics.
So.
The very program that is suppose to root out and find terrorists on the Homeland will be null and void when it counts the most.
The idea David Frum actually quoted algorithms as the reason the NSA program could never spy on Americans is the exactly the politics the Republicans adhere to. To realize how bizarre it is to put algorithms on the witness stand to prove the program works is about the equivalent of money being a citizen.
I suppose if Republicans want a military of drones to conquer the world algorithms will have to reassure the American people they are safe and their national security is intact.
I don't think so.
