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 to be unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the so-called metadata had helped to head off terrorist attacks.
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional – Josh Gerstein – POLITICO.com
So basically, he is willing to chuck the Constitution if they come back with a better lawyer.
Lawyers and judges have made a profession of pretending that clear English does not mean what it says.
I am reminded of White House lawyer John Yoo who was asked whether the President had the authority to order a little boy’s testicles to be crushed to motivate the boy’s father to cooperate. Yoo’s answer: “It would depend on why he (the President) ordered it.”
“Bill of Rights”! How 18th Century! I think the Judge is referring to the “Bill of Casual Suggestions”.
Better lawyer, better liar more like it. The excuse that this protects us by spying on all of us is the natural course for these people. But they missed the Boston Marathon bombers (or did they?) it would seem. They really botched that when one of the Tsarnaev brothers left the country for Chechnya and they forgot to follow-upon his return. Doh!
They always claim they’ve stopped ‘x’ number of terror acts but then when asked they give no details, or murky ones at best.
I think it’s terror acts “stopped or saved.”
Most of the “foiled terror plots” were sting operations set up by the FBI, with members recruited by the FBI, with terror plots supplied by the FBI and financing supplied by the FBI.
Remember the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993? Did you know that the bomb maker was an FBI plant and the bomb instructions were furnished by the FBI?
King George would have loved these guys. And Lenin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, etc.
So illegal spying is not illegal if they find something.
“So basically, he is willing to chuck the Constitution if they come back with a better lawyer.”
Worked for John Roberts.