Speaking of STRIKING DOWN a BUSH Unconstitutional law...

National Security Letter Gag Orders Struck Down As Unconstitutional

NEW YORK -- Concluding that they suffer from "significant constitutional infirmities," a federal district court judge in San Francisco on Thursday struck down sections of federal law that allow the FBI to warrantlessly obtain private information under a gag order in the name of national security.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston temporarily put her order on hold to allow the government to appeal her decision, recognizing that a higher court should first be able to "consider the weighty questions of national security and First Amendment rights" at issue in the case. The authority of national security letters, government orders to communications providers to reveal user information, was vastly expanded in the post-9/11 Patriot Act. The federal government has made wide use of them in the name of the fight against terrorism.

In May 2011, the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation brought a lawsuit against the national security letter statutes on behalf of an unnamed telephone service provider, arguing that placing the company under a gag order violated its First Amendment rights. EFF also argued that the 2005 renewal of the Patriot Act provided too little judicial review for the secret letters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/1 ... 86130.html

I don't care who brought the suit...It's about time another Bush unconstitutional law against the 4th, 5th and 10th Amendments got struck down.

Insert standard "2nd Amendment outrage" here: __ :Snooze

LJ, I agree, this is a good thing, what we have to remember is that even though Bush started it, this administration continued it. There are parts of the patriot act I agree with and parts I do not, this is one that I did not.

navycpo7 wrote: LJ, I agree, this is a good thing, what we have to remember is that even though Bush started it, this administration continued it. There are parts of the patriot act I agree with and parts I do not, this is one that I did not.

Like, you guys would EVER let anyone forget that on Day-2 of his first term they didn't file the papers to have it overturned... And this is just the tip of the iceberg. This still doesn't address "Room-641a" and the NSA tapping into the Backbone of the 'Net and searching ALL traffic that comes through for "suspicious phrases"; the warrantless wiretapping; email snooping, etc.

This apparently is a rather narrow ruling against the "National Security Letters"...

I think it's fairly safe to say that once the spying and law-enforcement guys, (FBI, NSA, CIA, even state and local), get the ability to do something, trying to take it away from them is virtually impossible. They start screaming in EVERY Congressional committee that you will "Impair their ability to go after crime" if you take away ___________"

The Dems are trying right now to take away the ability for law enforcement to use cellphone GPS/Location tracking without a warrant, and Law Enforcement is already screaming. They want to be able to track the location of anyone, anywhere, any time... Does that strike you as a bit "Big Brother-ish"? I don't have a problem with it if they've presented the evidence to a judge to show there's a "probable cause"... But to say, "Gee, we need to be able to do it without a warrant..."just because"... is not acceptable to me.

I agree. I also do know that once the us government has it, taking it away it almost an act of God to do it.

I was hopeful that one of the things this administration would do that I could agree with would be the roll back of some of these laws. They didn't, so there is no political high ground here. Both parties are equally determined to hold these unconstitutional powers over American citizens.

So does this mean that our emails, phone calls, bank accounts, tax returns etc. are private again.

Oh wait, this is somewhat meaningless and mentioning the constitution is kinda silly, since the govt is no longer bound by it anymore.

Striking down and making new laws is meaningless without any effect. You don't have privacy and you will not unless major action is taken, major action will not be taken and you will have less privacy.

This is not news, move on. This is not an Obama win or a Bush loose. This is hoopla.