In a statement from the White House, Press Secretary Tony Snow said, "The program is carefully administered and targets only international phone calls coming into or out of the United States where one of the parties on the call is a suspected al Qaeda or affiliated terrorist.
"The whole point is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks before they can be carried out," the statement said.
In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor struck down the NSA program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read the complete ruling -- PDF)
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/17/domesticspying.lawsuit/index.html
Note: http://www.cnn.com/2006...
NSA Eavesdropping Program Ruled Unconstitutional
Posted on Friday, August 18 at 09:32 by jensonjContributed By
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And it didn't help that the wiretap authorization was signed "By order of George II" <br />
By JOHN PACZKOWSKI<br />
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A federal judge in Detroit on Thursday struck down the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance program, calling it unconstitutional and an illegal abuse of presidential power. In a 43-page opinion, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor made quick work of the Bush administration's "it's classified" defense, pointing out that the program is not beyond judicial scrutiny. "The Presidential Oath of Office is set forth in the Constitution and requires him to swear or affirm that he 'will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,' " Taylor wrote. "The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself. We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution." <br />
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<a href="http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/">http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/</a><p>---<br>Perception is two thirds of what we perceive reality to be.<br />
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Difficult decisions are a privilege of rank.<br />