Warrantless wiretapping: The feds may be listening, but the federal courts are not

The ACLU sues, but the courts don't listen

The Associated Press

The ACLU sued over the NSA's warrantless wiretapping, but couldn't persuade the courts.

Featured Topic | Posted 39 weeks 4 days ago

Warrantless wiretapping: The feds may be listening, but the federal courts are not

Is the government listening to your phone calls? Maybe or maybe not, but either way, don't expect the courts to offer any answers any time soon. The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit against the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program, which began shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The American Civil Liberties Union wanted the court to allow a lawsuit on behalf of journalists and activists over the warrantless wiretapping program. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit last year, saying the plaintiffs could not prove their communications had been monitored.

Is the wiretapping program an violation of Americans' rights or an essential tool in the war on terrorism? Do you feel like the government is watching you?

Ben likes: Why the lawsuits should be dismissed

Andrew C. McCarthy/Washington Legal Foundation

Though public debate is surely proper, the courts are an inappropriate forum. The wartime penetration of enemy communications is a policy decision classically entrusted to the political branches of government. The suits should therefore be dismissed for want of jurisdiction, or for want of merit in the event the courts decide to entertain them.

Joel likes: Frank Church and the abyss of warrantless wiretapping

The Nation

The natural tendency of Government is toward abuse of power. Men entrusted with power, even those aware of its dangers, tend, particularly when pressured, to slight liberty. Our constitutional system guards against this tendency. It establishes many different checks upon power. It is those wise restraints which 'keep men free. In the field of intelligence those restraints have too often been ignored.

Here, there is no sovereign who stands above the law. Each of us, from presidents to the most disadvantaged citizen, must obey the law. As intelligence operations developed, however, rationalizations were fashioned to immunize them from the restraints of the Bill of Rights and the specific prohibitions of the criminal code. The experience of our investigation leads us to conclude that such rationalizations are a dangerous delusion.