Today, a split Appeals Court ruled that the ACLU can’t sue to stop the Bush Administration from using secret warrantless wiretaps because they can’t prove their clients were actually wiretapped. For those of you who may have forgotten, this is the very same wiretap program that Mr. Gonzales thought was so important it was worth bothering Mr. Ashcroft in his hospital bed to try and get it authorized while the fellow was on plenty of pain medication. At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, the point of secret wiretaps is collecting information without anybody knowing.
The court’s ruling — unless overruled by the Supreme Court — means that some people will have to prove they have been a victim harmed by this program before a new suit is brought. This is of course almost impossible to prove. Just about the only way to do so beyond a reasonable doubt is to have evidence from such surveillance used against them in court; that will never happen because even a lousy lawyer will think to ask about the search warrant, and any judge will agree that there really should have been one. Oh that pesky Fourth Amendment!
All of which brings us to the point that we really should all be able to agree on: if this program were really about catching terrorists, they would seek FISA warrants. This can be done up to three days after the fact, completely dismantling any “ticking time bomb” argument that could possibly be made. And if it isn’t about catching terrorists, what exactly is it about? Who exactly are they listening to? Why?
Oh, and many thanks to Pete Abel for nominating me a Thinking Blogger. I am going to have to give some serious consideration to who makes me think, because frankly just because I enjoy somebody’s writing doesn’t mean they make me think.
In closing: the Center is Progressive; great post (by another “Thinking Blogger”) about how a school is like the military (except of course we hope there are fewer weapons in school); even Apple Geeks has something political to say; one woman’s account of being Broke (and part two); is Net Neutrality dead?; there are more contractors than American soldiers in Iraq, and that’s without counting “security” contractors like Blackwater; you can teach a kid that fruits and veggies are good for him, but you may have to bribe him to eat them; Max says it best; some people are so scared of universal health that they want to make you think it causes doctors to become terrorists??; on freedom; and finally, this item on airline delays being worse if you actually care when the passenger arrives makes this item on CPI not accounting for degaded quality even more horrifying. Have a great weekend; I’ll be thinking about who makes me think.
Update: the Chicago Tribune headline incorrectly says this ruling means domestic wiretaps are “ok” when in fact, all they are ruling on is that the plaintiffs did not have any evidence that they were a target of the program, and thus had no “damages”, or a legal reason to sue. I personally like the quote from Senator “Go **** Yourself” Leahy towards the end: “The court’s decision is a disappointing one that was not made on the merits of the case, yet closed the courthouse doors to resolving it.” Somehow he managed to distill the whole situation into one sentence.