Administration Claimed Immunity To 4th Amendment

mrogers writes "The EFF has uncovered a troubling footnote in a newly declassified Bush Administration memo, which asserts that 'our Office recently [in 2001] concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.' This could mean that the Administration believes the NSA's warrantless wiretapping and data mining programs are not governed by the Constitution, which would cast Administration claims that the programs did not violate the Fourth Amendment in a whole new light — after all, you can't violate a law that doesn't apply. The claimed immunity would also cover other DoD agencies, such as CIFA, which carry out offline surveillance of political groups within the United States."

Comments

perhaps the slightest bit bitter

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the Republican party traditionally the one that raises the biggest fuss about the Bill of Rights?

Sure would be nice if Colbert or Stewart chose to lampoon this little footnote. At least their shows get noticed more than Slashdot.

So... I guess this is Civil War?

[Qzukk]

Usually civil wars begin when a group of people not in power attack the established government, rather than the established government deciding to attack civilians in "domestic military operations", but I suppose there's a first time for everything.

Re:Police State

[hansamurai]

The American Revolution was not fought with cupcakes and daisies. Meh, all they had were tea and crumpets.

Re:Only the 4th ammendment?

[sponglish]

Precisely, The U.S. Constitution obeys the inverse-square law, so I'll leave it up to the math chaps to work out how much less important the 4th is than the 1st (and as for the 28th, it's so unimportant it doesn't exist!).

Re:Real Texans keep their word.

[meringuoid]

He interpreted the oath to mean that he would preserve, protect, and defend the office of President, and execute the Constitution. This may explain why he considers himself to be a great leader -- he has brilliantly lived up to the oath of office as he understood it.

And as a Texan, he's not going to be at all hesitant about executing things, is he?

Re:Police State

[benwiggy]

I can't help laughing at this notion that the reason Americans need guns is because it's the only thing that stops their fragile democracy from becoming a tyranny. After you organise a militia to take Capitol Hill by force, let me know how you get on.

Re:Only the 4th ammendment?

[somersault]

From what I've heard from those doing WoW raids, building up an online militia could prove to be troublesome. Are you sure you're up to the task of leading it? And remember, when you die irl, you don't just respawn (well, I can't say I've tested this out but I'm pretty sure it's the case). If I were a US citizen I'd be pretty up for helping you with your little White House raid though :P Good luck.

Re:Only the 4th ammendment?

[houghi]

just not the copies we see in the Archives Rotunda.

As they are copies, who can be sued?

Re:Only the 4th ammendment?

[ostrich2]

In practice, very few people get executed for treason in the USA. It's mostly a lifetime in prison offense...unless we're at war. Hey wait a minute!

Re:Police State

[geminidomino]

It also doesn't help that we have really, REALLY short attention spa* Ooo!! Something shiny! Ok, so when fomenting revolution, we'll skip the Apple customers...