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Court Nixes National Security Letter Gag Provision
2phar sends news that on Monday a federal appeals court ruled unconstitutional the gag provision of the Patriot Act's National Security Letters. Until the ruling, recipients of NSLs were legally forbidden from speaking out. "The appeals court invalidated parts of the statute that wrongly placed the burden on NSL recipients to initiate judicial review of gag orders, holding that the government has the burden to go to court and justify silencing NSL recipients. The appeals court also invalidated parts of the statute that narrowly limited judicial review of the gag orders — provisions that required the courts to treat the government's claims about the need for secrecy as conclusive and required the courts to defer entirely to the executive branch." Update: 12/16 22:26 GMT by KD : Julian Sanchez, Washington Editor for Ars Technica, sent this cautionary note: "Both the item on yesterday's National Security Letter ruling and the RawStory article to which it links are somewhat misleading. It remains the case that ISPs served with an NSL are forbidden from speaking out; the difference is that under the ruling it will be somewhat easier for the ISPs to challenge that gag order, and the government will have to do a little bit more to persuade a court to maintain the gag when it is challenged. But despite what the ACLU's press releases imply, this is really not a 'victory' for them, or at least only a very minor one. Relative to the decision the government was appealing, it would make at least as much sense to call it a victory for the government. The lower court had struck down the NSL provisions of the PATRIOT Act entirely. This ruling left both the NSL statute and the gag order in place, but made oversight slightly stricter. If you look back at the hearings from this summer, you'll see that most of the new ruling involves the court making all the minor adjustments that the government had urged them to make, and which the ACLU had urged them to reject as inadequate."
Since it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, does this ruling only apply in New York, Vermont, and Connecticut?
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
Obama voted to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act, which extended the Act, but with some amendments. Such amendments would clarify the rights of an individual who has received FISA orders to challenge nondisclosure requirements and to refuse disclosure of the name of their attorney.
He voted against extending the USA PATRIOT Actâ(TM)s Wiretap Provision on March 1, 2006. This bill would give the FBI the authority to conduct âoeroving wiretapsâ and access to business records. Voting against this bill would prolong the debate, keeping the USA PATRIOT Act provisional whereas voting for this bill would extend the USA PATRIOT Act as permanent.
hmm. Wikipedia
The President swears to uphold the Constitution, but what if he chooses not to?
As you point out, the worst that happens is the court eventually overrules, but often the damage has already been done and the President can just try again in a slightly modified way.
Is such disregard for the Constitution treason?
At the very least it is an impeachable offense, but only if congress has the will to impeach.
The question/task for the future is to figure out how to prevent this sort of abuse from happening again. It has been somewhat disturbing to see how easily your executive can disregard your highest laws with impunity only to have their actions repealed years later.
Actually, this is how we prevent it from happening again. And, to be fair, it wasn't the executive abusing power. He was given it by the congress.
Congress passes all kinds of laws which are later found to be unconstitutional by the court. The ultimate check, in our system, on the congress and president is the judiciary. How would you do it?
George Bush has proven that the American constitution has no teeth.
This case is an example of those teeth. Is it as timely as I would like? No. But I would rather have the correct decision after a well reasoned and thought out case, than a quick gut reflex (which is the role the congress usually plays). Assuming this decision is upheld on appeal, its now basically part of the constitution. I don't want that to be too easy or quick.
... and that's when the C.H.U.D.'s came at me.