Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
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!).
"I improvise. It's my greatest talent. I prefer situations to plans..." --Wintermute, William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
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.
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!