Wednesday, July 12, 2006
No Expansion of Secret Courts
Arlen Specter has introduced a bill that will transfer all legal disputes concerning the legality of electronic surveillance programs, such as ATT’s cooperation with the NSA, to the secret FISA court, with closed proceedings. How is the public supposed to have an informed opinion about the government (say) looking at who we’re calling without even being allowed to know about these programs, or being informed about the court battles? Even the final opinion of the FISA court could be censored! If Bush thinks he needs to know who I’m calling, who I’m sending money to, where I go in the Internet, then let him publicly tell me, and everyone who will be spied upon, why this is so, and why this doesn’t violate the 4th Amendment (hint: “I’m the president and I said so” is not an answer).
