Friday, July 06, 2007

Court of Appeals Rules on Wiretapping Suit

Naturally this came out on a Friday, where it misses the major news cycles when people are getting ready for the weekend and are not really paying attention, and by the time Monday rolls around chances are there'll be a new missing white chick or new celebutant scandal.

But in a chilling ruling out of the Sixth Cicuit court in, of all places, Cincinnatti (WTF?), a majority of the three-judge panel said that the plaintiffs in this particular case had no standing to sue. They did not rule on the merits of the case, just on the standing issue.

No standing. Because those bringing the suit (i.e. the ACLU) weren't the ones who were illegally bugged, wiretapped, eavesdropped on by the NSA without approval from the FISA court.

But here's the catch: The program was and remains so secret that proving you were victimized by it is virtually impossible.

It's a big catch, but maybe not insurmountable. Read the story yourself for all the gruesome details.

And let's do everything we can to get the evil BFEE out of power.

1 Comment:

BAC said...

Friday seems to be the "news day" for the White House. It's hard to understand why people aren't more upset about this than they seem to be.

And hey, it was great seeing you on Saturday!

BAC