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Terrorism Case Challenges FISA Spying (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader writes: As we've come to terms with revelations of U.S. surveillance over the past couple years, we've started to see lawsuits spring up challenging the constitutionality of the spying. Unfortunately, it's slow; one of the difficulties is that it's hard to gain standing in court if you haven't been demonstrably harmed. A case before the 9th Circuit Appeals Court is now testing the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act in a big way, and whatever the outcome, it's likely to head to the Supreme Court. The case itself is long and complicated; it centers on a teenager who joined a plot to detonate a huge bomb in Portland, Oregon in 2010, but his co-conspirators turned out to be undercover FBI agents.

The case history is worth a read, and raises questions about entrapment and impressionable kids. However, the issue now being argued in court is simpler: the defendant was a U.S. citizen, and the FBI used FISA powers to access his communications without a warrant. Crucially, they failed to notify the defendant of this before trial — something they're legally required to do. This gives him and his lawyers standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law in the first place. It's a difficult puzzle, with no clear answer, but oral arguments could begin as soon as January for one of the most significant cases yet to challenge the U.S. government's surveillance of its own citizens.

3 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's the lawyers, not the convict by ACE209 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You probably mean the Milgram experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    "we are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
  2. Re:What a World by peragrin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since when has that ever not been the case?

    Seriously when? the only way to legally challenge a bad law is by being the victim of it being used against you.

    Do you not know how this country works? It is why we have innocent until proven guilty so we can challenge bad laws.

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    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  3. Re:What a World by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

    -- H. L. Mencken

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    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.