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Rand Paul Files Suit Against Obama Over NSA's Collection of Metadata

Posted by Soulskill on from the bipartisan-effort-to-blame-the-other-party dept.

RoccamOccam writes Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is filing a class action lawsuit against President Obama and other members of his administration over the National Security Agency's collection of phone metadata, a practice he believes violates the Fourth Amendment. In a YouTube video released Tuesday, Paul compared the government surveillance to the warrantless searches practiced by the British military prior to American independence."

15 of 380 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Cult leader's son behaving like a cult leader by Defenestrar · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know, I think YouTube makes sense. After all, we just learned that it's the number one website in the world. A smart followup would be to edit Wikipedia entries (#2), and every politician has a staff to do that.

  2. Pointless by michaelmalak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The courts will just dismiss this case for "lack of standing" as they did his father's lawsuit against Obama for violating the War Powers Act regarding Libya.

    The Constitution provides a remedy for the Executive Branch violating laws, and it's not having the Legislative Branch go to the Judicial Branch. Congress should pass a veto-proof law clarifying its intention that universal wiretapping is against the law, and then if the Executive Branch persists, then start impeachment proceedings, where members of Congress act as judge and jury. Rand Paul's lawsuit is nothing but grandstanding -- similar to the conservative all-talk-no-results Republicans have been feeding their constituents for the past half-century, but this time it's libertarian all-talk-no-results. And unconstitutional to boot.

    (Congress could conceivably start impeachment proceedings now without first passing clarifying legislation, but impeachment is a card that realistically can be played only once every couple of decades, so you want to make sure. If you don't have the votes for legislation, you sure aren't going to have them for impeachment. (You can also substitute "ethics and political will" for "votes".))

    1. Re:Pointless by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You may be right about the "lack of standing" issue, but established law is against him anyway. They will have to challenge a number of precedents to win this case, and that may not be easy. Even then there are going to be problems running into Article II arguments during a time of military conflict. The simplest way would be for Congress to pass a law that clarifies its stand.

      As to impeachment, it isn't that hard. It is conviction in the Senate that would be the sticking point. There is no way the current Democratic Senate would ever convict Obama over this matter. He is effectively immune. Just look at the way the administration is altering implementation and features of the Affordable Care Act. It is being done in essence by decree. They are doing things that the law doesn't allow for, and I doubt there will be much fallout. That is the irony of this entire controversy. People keep claiming that the NSA's actions are illegal and unconstitutional, but they aren't. It has been decided many times in court, the Congress has passed laws authorizing it, and the President(s) have authorized it. And yet everyone is up in arms about it. And yet when you look at the lawless changes to the Affordable Care Ace, and the IRS political intrigue, it is mostly chirping crickets from the media and most people commenting here. It almost makes you wonder if people are really concerned about lawlessness, of if they only care about what they think is their ox being gored.
         

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  3. Re:Cult leader's son behaving like a cult leader by Calavar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Come on, this is 2014. Youtube is a legitimate way to make announcements. The two official State of the Union videos have about a million Youtube views put together. More people watched Bill Nye's evolution/creationism debate on Youtube than live on television. Sure, there's lots of crap on Youtube, but there is plenty of crap on cable TV as well. Is NBC a bad source of news just because Jerry Springer is distributed by NBCUniversal? Is CBS a bad source of news because it broadcasts Survivor? Same thing applies to the internet. One one end, you have nytimes.com and politico.com and on the other end you have timecube.com. The fact that Timecube exists doesn't automatically discount everything else on the internet.

  4. Re:Good except for the politics by JWW · · Score: 3, Funny

    Your post is confusing we.

  5. Re:Rand Paul is the only honest politician left. by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Tell me about it. We as a society have abandoned the wealthy. Who speaks for them anymore?

    Remember, dude, thanks to Obama, when Sarah Palin becomes President, she'll be able to spy on you at will, fire missiles at you from drones, and arbitrariliy decide which laws are enforced and which aren't.

    Be careful what you wish for...

  6. But Timecube does discount everything else on the by sl3xd · · Score: 4, Funny

    The fact that Timecube exists doesn't automatically discount everything else on the internet.

    You obviously haven't actually spent much time reading Timecube. After Timecube, everything else on the internet can easily be discounted.

    --
    -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
  7. Re:Pick your favorite amendments! by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Rand Paul has open disdain for other amendments of the constitution.

    Like what?

    The one's about taxation.

    But that won't stop simple-minded hatemongers from playing the false equivalence game.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  8. Re:Cult leader's son behaving like a cult leader by LVSlushdat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CBS is an integral part of the new US Department of Propaganda. You will never hear/see ANYthing on any of the official government "mouthpieces" that the government does not want you to hear/see. Places like Youtube are, for the moment, the one of the few places to still get "non-government-approved" news/information.. In the case of Rand Paul, he is one of the VERY few members of Congress who seem to actually have the people's best interests at heart. I'm thankful we have him on our side.. Obama-bots, feel free to mod me down... You *know* you want to...

    I'm not a Republican, nor a Democrat, I'M AN AMERICAN!! AND I'M PISSED!!!!

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  9. Re:Pick your favorite amendments! by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You know he wants to end the Federal reserve right? Can you imagine ANY "corporate fat cat" liking that idea? He has a slightly better chance at getting elected than his father, but basically all the money in corporate America will be against him should he get nominated. His only real chance is if the market collapse we all know is coming, hits before the election.

  10. Re:Cult leader's son behaving like a cult leader by jxander · · Score: 4, Informative

    Agreed.

    While I certainly don't agree with all of Rand Paul's ideas, I applaud him for actually HAVING ideas in the first place. Far too many Congress-critters only care about keeping the status quo (and using the status quo to keep their 'hookers and blow' funds fully stocked.)

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    This signature is false.
  11. Re:I agree with him.. by callmetheraven · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He thinks that Obama started the surveillance. Not that it absolves anyone, Obama's fully guilty of continuing Bush's crimes.
    I think the point was that that the left appears to be anxious to turn America into a prison state, as long as it's their guy running the prison.

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    You can have my SIG when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
  12. Re:Rand Paul is the only honest politician left. by Goody · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're so right, well, except for issues like wages, the environment, foreign policy, social programs, separation of church and state, education, taxation, gun rights, and abortion in which they're polar opposites. So, actually, the only thing they're the same on is surveillance.

    --
    Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
  13. Re:I agree with the claimed motives... by cmdr_tofu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bear in mind, Obama cannot run for a 3rd term. Also bear in mind that the NSA spying began under a Republican (GW Bush) administration which fast-tracked the Patriot act through and created numerous other unpleasant changes in the name of fighting terrorism.

    https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying...

  14. Re:Rand Paul is the only honest politician left. by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well done for accepting that.

    Now what are you going to do about it?

    Vote third party. It may not be effective if I am the only one but at least I can sleep with a clean conscience. Voting for the lesser of two evils is still supporting evil, and not voting is a vote for the status quo. However if everyone were to vote with their conscience instead of the lesser of two evils neither of those would win.

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    ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.