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Supreme Court Refuses To Hear EPIC Challenge To NSA Surveillance
Trailrunner7 writes "The challenge to the NSA's domestic surveillance program filed with the Supreme Court by the Electronic Privacy Information Center ended Monday, with the court refusing to consider the challenge at all. EPIC had filed the challenge directly with the Supreme Court rather than going through the lower courts. EPIC, a non-profit organization involved in privacy policy matters, had asked the court to vacate an order from a judge in the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court that had enabled the NSA's collection of hundreds of millions of Verizon call records under the so-called metadata collection program. The challenge hinged on the idea that the FISC had gone outside of its authority in granting the order."
I hate to say it, but you're right. The judicial branch of government runs on precedent and tradition, unless and until it is convenient for them to counter precedent and tradition.
IANAL, but I'm not aware of any cases being taken directly to the Supreme Court like Epic tried to do. Everything runs through the lower courts, even if the Supreme Court is the intended goal.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Eh? The Night of the Long Knives took place in 1934, four years before Kristallnacht. Street violence from the brownshirts was a major factor leading to the Long Knives, sure, but at that time it was random and unfocused, just drunken brownshirts beating up anyone they saw. Kristallnacht was specifically focused against Jews.
Everything is better with chainsaws.