|
Posted: Oct 23, 2019 12:01 AM
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
A recently revealed court ruling received very little media attention. Most Americans are not aware that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg (an Obama nominee) issued a scathing indictment of ourfederal spy program. This ruling exposed improper searches of tens of thousands of illegal searches of raw intelligence databases, including 70,000 emails and telephone numbers, and other digital identifiers that were illegally searched. The Judge ruled that these searches were not consistent with the Fourth Amendment.
As serious as this ruling is, the media is preoccupied working on their partisan coup attempt of the Trump administration, masked as impeachment. While these liberal media hacks focus on the junk that has little impact on the American people, assaults on our liberty are a significant issue they are purposely marginalizing. Why? Keep reading.
In the months following the attacks of 9-11 the government took advantage of a nation still in shock. The government told Congress that if they only had the tools, they could prevent another attack but to do so we had to give away some essential liberties. Everybody in the media and Congress fell for it without much discussion because nobody wanted to be accused of aiding terrorists to attack again. We have to do something was the rallying cry. U.S. spy agencies knew they had an emotionally vulnerable public that could be easily persuaded to give away these essential liberties, thereby allowing the government broad surveillance authority to violate the Fourth Amendment in the name of national security. The government promised that they wouldnt abuse it even though, by its very nature, intelligence work is highly intrusive. We were also promised strict oversight. They were required to self-report when abuses were discovered. Instead, this only became public after the FBI went to an appeals court to block the judgment against them and lost. Since its inception, I opposed the Patriot Act and its ugly stepsister the USA Freedom Act. This marks, perhaps, the only time I have ever sided with the American Civil Liberties Union on a law enforcement issue.
Giving the government unbridled authority to search into our digital lives without being suspected of wrongdoing and without probable cause is not consistent with a constitutional democracy and self-rule. Its not whether the government can be trusted; instead, they should never be trusted. I believe our nations Founders also understood this. This is why we have a constitution, a pact between government and citizens limiting vast intrusions into our daily lives. I realize that government overreach has significantly expanded today, but a restrained federal bureaucracy is still the foundation of this republic.
The problem with the post 9-11 spying authority is that it allows the government to operate under a veil of secrecy. For example, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives the government the authority to work around the Fourth Amendment. But as we have seen with government agents requesting a search warrant or searching without one, the lack of an adversarial stage like in criminal courts, results in the loss of liberties. A core American principle is that a government working for the people must be transparent to the people. The governments claim that more transparency would hamper an investigation is nothing more than hyperbole. Nobody contests that platitude and government agents know it. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court- FISC judges, do not have the experience in spy operations to be able to ask pointed questions to test the validity of an agents claims. As a result, most applications for a search warrant in a FISA court are nearly unanimously approved. The congressional staff that does most of the oversight work lack the same experience about how these operations work, so they sit there and nod in agreement with whatever crap an experienced spy agency bureaucrat feeds them. Recall that the FBI went to a FISC to request a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and were granted one based on a fake dossier. Even if an oversight committee asks relevant questions, the answer more times than not is that answering would jeopardize national security. That is coded language for, we dont want you to know because the answer would embarrass us. Thus the FISC has become a rubber stamp on government testimony in a search warrant request or in operations called sneak and peek where they search digital data without a warrant. Government agents then hide what they do by classifying it as top secret. This is a problem. As we are seeing, when no one is watching, abuse runs rampant.
An important question in these government surveillance abuses is who did it and what consequences will there be for this severe breach of peoples privacy. We never hear who specifically violated the Constitution or how they will be disciplined. Again its because the government operates in the dark. The agent responsible should be publicly named. This alone will make them think twice about skirting the Constitution because of public shame and humiliation. When a court finds that a local law enforcement officer violated someones Fourth Amendment rights, the evidence is thrown out, and that particular officers identity can be learned through public information disclosure. They can face criminal indictment under a 1983 claim for instance for violating a persons rights under the color of law or civil court sanctions. That serves as a deterrent and accountability. With federal agents engaged in surveillance operations that are hidden from public view, it becomes impossible to hold people accountable.
Apparently court decisions like this arent sexy enough for headline coverage in major newspapers or cable news. Congress currently is too preoccupied with the kabuki theater of impeachment. Will Adam Schiff call for hearings, demanding our civil liberties be protected from abuse? No. My suggestion is that they stop the political game-playing and work on something of value to the American people like their oversight responsibility of our spy agencies to prevent these abuses. I know. Wishful thinking.
See the original post:
The Media Yawns as Our Civil Liberties are Trampled Upon - Townhall
- Quinn: Supreme Court should clarify Fourth Amendment rights in the digital age - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Fourth amendment | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia ... - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- The Fourth Amendment is destroyed by the Roberts led Supreme Court. - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Protections for e-data clear Senate committee - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Weighing The Risks Of Warrantless Phone Searches During Arrests - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Court may let cops search smartphones - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Supreme Court to hear case on police searches of cellphones - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Fourth Amendment in the digital age: Supreme Court to decide if police can search cellphones without a warrant - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- What Scalia knows about illegal searches - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- Should police be allowed to search your smartphone - Video - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- The Shaky Legal Foundation of NSA Surveillance on Americans - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules police don't need warrants to search cars - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Local police: Updated vehicle-search law still requires probable cause - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Liberal Supreme Court Justice Comes To The Defense Of Scalia - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Smartphones and the Fourth Amendment - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Fourth Amendment Defined & Explained - Law - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]
- I-Team: Do police seek search warrant friendly judges? - May 8th, 2014 [May 8th, 2014]
- Is Big Brother Listening? Applying the Fourth Amendment in an Electronic Age - Video - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- Magistrate waxes poetic while rejecting Gmail search request - May 10th, 2014 [May 10th, 2014]
- The Fourth Amendment - Video - May 10th, 2014 [May 10th, 2014]
- License reader lawsuit can be heard, appeals court rules - May 15th, 2014 [May 15th, 2014]
- Seize the Rojo - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- NSA Spying Has a Disproportionate Effect on Immigrants - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Motorists sue Aurora, police in 2012 traffic stop after bank robbery - May 18th, 2014 [May 18th, 2014]
- Judge Says NSA Phone Surveillance Likely Unconstitutional - Video - May 21st, 2014 [May 21st, 2014]
- New York Attorney Heath D. Harte Releases a Statement on Fourth Amendment Rights - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- The Fourth Amendment Rights - Video - May 23rd, 2014 [May 23rd, 2014]
- Bangor Area School District teachers vote no to random drug - May 24th, 2014 [May 24th, 2014]
- I Don't Care About The Contitution, Take Your Fourth Amendment And Shove It The Hills Hotel - Video - May 27th, 2014 [May 27th, 2014]
- Lonestar1776 at Illegal Checkpoint 80 Miles Inside Border - Standing UP & Pushing Back! pt 2/2 - Video - August 31st, 2014 [August 31st, 2014]
- Suit charges Daytona Beach's rental inspection program violates civil rights - September 3rd, 2014 [September 3rd, 2014]
- 4th Amendment - Laws.com - September 4th, 2014 [September 4th, 2014]
- YOU CAN ARREST ME NOW (cops refuse, steal phone) - Video - September 7th, 2014 [September 7th, 2014]
- The Feds Explain How They Seized The Silk Road Servers - September 8th, 2014 [September 8th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Does obtaining leaked data from a misconfigured website violate the CFAA? - September 9th, 2014 [September 9th, 2014]
- Defence asks judge in NYC to toss out bulk of evidence in Silk Road case as illegally obtained - September 10th, 2014 [September 10th, 2014]
- Family of a mentally ill woman files lawsuit against San Mateo Co. after deadly shooting - September 10th, 2014 [September 10th, 2014]
- Minnesota Supreme Court upholds airport drug case decision - September 12th, 2014 [September 12th, 2014]
- Law Talk - Obamacare Rollout; Fourth Amendment, NSA Spying Stop & Frisk DUI Check Points lta041 - Video - September 12th, 2014 [September 12th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: The posse comitatus case and changing views of the exclusionary rule - September 15th, 2014 [September 15th, 2014]
- Guest: Why the privacy of a public employees cellphone matters - September 16th, 2014 [September 16th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Apples dangerous game - September 19th, 2014 [September 19th, 2014]
- Judge expounds on privacy rights - September 20th, 2014 [September 20th, 2014]
- Great privacy essay: Fourth Amendment Doctrine in the Era of Total Surveillance - September 20th, 2014 [September 20th, 2014]
- The Fourth Amendment By Maison Erdman - Video - September 20th, 2014 [September 20th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: When administrative inspections of businesses turn into massive armed police raids - September 22nd, 2014 [September 22nd, 2014]
- The chilling loophole that lets police stop, question and search you for no good reason - September 23rd, 2014 [September 23rd, 2014]
- Pet Owners Look to Muzzle Police Who Shoot Dogs - September 27th, 2014 [September 27th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: A few thoughts on Heien v. North Carolina - September 29th, 2014 [September 29th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Third Circuit on the mosaic theory and Smith v. Maryland - October 1st, 2014 [October 1st, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Third Circuit gives narrow reading to exclusionary rule - October 2nd, 2014 [October 2nd, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Supreme Court takes case on duration of traffic stops - October 3rd, 2014 [October 3rd, 2014]
- Search & Seizure, Racial Bias: The American Law Journal on the Philadelphia CNN-News Affiliate WFMZ Monday, October 6 ... - October 3rd, 2014 [October 3rd, 2014]
- Argument preview: How many brake lights need to be working on your car? - October 3rd, 2014 [October 3rd, 2014]
- The 'Barney Fife Loophole' to the Fourth Amendment - October 3rd, 2014 [October 3rd, 2014]
- Search & Seizure: A New Fourth Amendment for a New Generation? - Promo - Video - October 4th, 2014 [October 4th, 2014]
- Ap Government Fourth Amendment Project - Video - October 4th, 2014 [October 4th, 2014]
- Lubbock Liberty Workshop With Arnold Loewy On The Fourth Amendment - Video - October 5th, 2014 [October 5th, 2014]
- Feds Hacked Silk Road Without A Warrant? Perfectly Legal, Prosecutors Argue - October 7th, 2014 [October 7th, 2014]
- Supreme Court Starts Term with Fourth Amendment Case - October 7th, 2014 [October 7th, 2014]
- Argument analysis: A simple answer to a deceptively simple Fourth Amendment question? - October 9th, 2014 [October 9th, 2014]
- Feds Say That Even If FBI Hacked The Silk Road, Ulbricht's Rights Weren't Violated - October 9th, 2014 [October 9th, 2014]
- Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Records Violates the Fourth Amendment - Video - October 9th, 2014 [October 9th, 2014]
- Leggett sides with civil liberties supporters - October 10th, 2014 [October 10th, 2014]
- Search & Seizure / Car Stops: A 'New' Fourth Amendment for a New Generation? - Video - October 10th, 2014 [October 10th, 2014]
- The Fourth Amendment- The Maininator Period 4 - Video - October 10th, 2014 [October 10th, 2014]
- Judge nukes Ulbricht's complaint about WARRANTLESS FBI Silk Road server raid - October 11th, 2014 [October 11th, 2014]
- Montgomery County will not hold immigrants without probable cause -- Gazette.Net - October 13th, 2014 [October 13th, 2014]
- Debate: Does Mass Phone Data Collection Violate The 4th Amendment? - October 14th, 2014 [October 14th, 2014]
- Does the mass collection of phone records violate the Fourth Amendment? - October 19th, 2014 [October 19th, 2014]
- When Can the Police Search Your Phone and Computer? - October 21st, 2014 [October 21st, 2014]
- Supreme Court to decide if cops can access hotel registries without warrants - October 22nd, 2014 [October 22nd, 2014]
- Third Circuit Allows Evidence from Warrantless GPS Device - October 22nd, 2014 [October 22nd, 2014]
- US court rules in favor of providing officials access to entire email account - October 24th, 2014 [October 24th, 2014]
- EL MONTE POLICE OFFICER VIOLATES ARMY VETERAN'S FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHT - Video - October 25th, 2014 [October 25th, 2014]
- FBI demands new powers to hack into computers and carry out surveillance - October 30th, 2014 [October 30th, 2014]
- Fourth Amendment (United States Constitution ... - November 4th, 2014 [November 4th, 2014]
- Fourth Amendment - Video - November 4th, 2014 [November 4th, 2014]
- Call Yourself a Hacker and Lose Fourth Amendment Rights - Video - November 5th, 2014 [November 5th, 2014]
- Volokh Conspiracy: Magistrate issues arrest warrants for 17 years but is new to probable cause - November 7th, 2014 [November 7th, 2014]