Government Seeks Dismissal of Spy Suit

The Wired blog 27B Stroke 6 is carrying the news that the US has filed a motion to drop the case the ACLU won in lower court against the government's warrantless wiretapping program. The government's appeal of that ruling will be heard on Wednesday, January 31 in front of the Sixth Circuit court of appeals. The feds argue that the case is now moot because they are now obtaining warrants from the FISA court, and furthermore President Bush did not renew the warrantless program. Turns out there's a Supreme Court precedent saying that if you were doing something illegal, get taken to court, and then stop the illegal activity, you're not off the hook. The feds argue in their petition that this precedent does not apply to them. Here is the government's filing (PDF).

Comments

So lets see if I have this chain of events right:

[MrNaz]

Court: You were spying and that's a very bad thing.
Governmnet: Yea but we stopped after we were sued.
Court: Yes, but that doesn't get you off the hook.
Government: Hey look! Behind you! A two headed moose!
Court: *Whrils around* Where? Where? I demand to know where!
Government: *Runs away*

Now IANAL, but that sounds like a reasonable summary to me.

Re:Gotta remember this

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, wait. Doesn't that mean Bush should also stop hunting Bin Laden?

Um, I hate to be the one to break this to you....

Can't we all just leave the past where it belongs?

[Fishbulb]

"You can't take me to court, I did all those things way back when I was President! I'm not President anymore!" - George W. Bush, Feb. 2009.

"You can't take me to court, Nicole isn't dying, she's dead! That's past tense, see. I'm not still killing her!" - OJ Simpson

"Oh, no, no, I stopped mailing out bombs a while ago, thanks anyway! Oh, I have a present for you. Go ahead, open it!" -Theodore Kaczynski