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Re: FISA Court Rules [2007] Wiretapping Program Legal (NOT the domestic one...)
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:15:19 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: "Ethan Ackerman" <eackerma () u washington edu> Date: January 16, 2009 10:32:25 AM EST To: dave () farber netSubject: Re: [IP] Re: FISA Court Rules [2007] Wiretapping Program Legal (NOT the domestic one...)
Reply-To: eackerma () u washington edu Greetings Dave, Quite a few legal commentators have criticised the author's conclusions in the NYT article you forwarded, pointing out that the case only addresses the legality of the international part of the 2007 Protect America Act, and not any wiretapping prior to that. The Associated Press is even going so far as to run a distinguishing sentence in its coverage of the ruling, noting that "The decision does not address the legality of an earlier warrantless surveillance program that the Bush administration secretly put in place without legislation from Congress, and which The New York Times exposed in 2005." ( http://tinyurl.com/72wsfk ) So headlines aside, this court opinion (which can be accessed at http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/fiscr082208.pdf ) at most confirms that Congress can authorize warrantless wiretapping abroad, and importantly does NOT address whether the US govt. can wiretap without a warrant and in violation of statute here in the US. Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald has an article with a good roundup of commentators. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/15/fisa/index.html On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:49 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com> Date: January 16, 2009 12:00:57 AM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] FISA Court Rules Wiretapping Program LegalThis is puzzling, but perhaps only to those of us who know that there is not just *one* NSA "wiretapping program" that has been controversial from a Constitutional point of view during the last 8-10 years. Bamford's "The Shadow Factory" discusses several, for example, and there are three or fourothers rumored.In specific, what is puzzling is the claim that an appeal of a specific FISAruling can fully cover the wide variety of broad-spectrum collection,archiving, analysis, and distribution systems that are now feasible, but cannot be narrowly targeted as to personal, temporal or geographic scope.Appeals courts do not "make law". David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org> Date: January 15, 2009 8:46:34 AM EST To: Undisclosed-recipients: <>; Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: FISA Court Rules Wiretapping Program Legal January 16, 2009 Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Program Legal By ERIC LICHTBLAU http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/washington/16fisa.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=printWASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, is expected to issue a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a court order, even when Americans' private communications may beinvolved.The court decision is expected to be disclosed as early as Thursday in anunclassified, redacted form. It was made in December by the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which has issued only two priorrulings in its 30-year history.The decision marks the first time since the disclosure of the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program three years ago that anappellate court has addressed the constitutionality of the federal government's wiretapping powers. In validating the government's wideauthority to collect foreign intelligence, it may offer legal credence tothe Bush administration's repeated assertions that the president hasconstitutional authority to act without specific court approval in orderingnational security eavesdropping.The appeals court is expected to uphold a secret ruling issued last yearby the intelligence court that it oversees, known as the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance, or FISA, court. In that initial opinion, the secret court found that Congress had acted within its authority in August of 2007 when it passed a hotly debated law known as the Protect America Act, which gave the executive branch broad power to eavesdrop on internationalcommunications, according to someone familiar with the ruling. snip ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Re: FISA Court Rules [2007] Wiretapping Program Legal (NOT the domestic one...) David Farber (Jan 16)