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TechnoratiJudge Orders White House to Produce Wiretap Memos
U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. signed an order Friday requiring the department to produce the memos by the White House legal counsel's office by Nov. 17. He said he will review the memos in private to determine if any information can be released publicly without violating attorney-client privilege or jeopardizing national security.
Kennedy issued his order in response to lawsuits by civil liberties groups in 2005 after news reports disclosed the wiretapping.
The department had argued that the memos were protected attorney-client communications and contain classified information.
But Kennedy said that the attorney-client argument was "too vague" and that he would have to look at the documents himself to determine if that argument is valid and also to see if there is information that can be released without endangering national security.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said Saturday the department is reviewing the opinion and will "respond appropriately in court."
Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without obtaining court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could and that the president had inherent authority under the Constitution to order warrantless domestic spying.
After the program was challenged in court, Bush last year put it under the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established in 1978 after the domestic spying scandals of the 1970s.
"We think just as a common sense matter the legal theories for the president's wiretap programs cannot be classified and should be available to the public," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the groups seeking the memos.
"It's an important decision because up to this point the judge has relied on the government's assertion that it has done everything properly under the law and that it has disclosed everything it needs to disclose," Rotenberg said Saturday.
28 Comments so far
Show AllI want to know what kind of BS con artists made Bush "popular" at 92% right after 9/11. Why would someone be popular for a failure? He ignored many warnings about an upcoming terrorist attack for months before it happened. Sarah Palin says Democrats can't protect the country. More BS. Republicans were in charge on 9/11. How dumb can people get? Talk about slow learners. Finally, years after, Bush is at the bottom of the heap as far as popularity goes.
Since the law allowed the Bush administration to act first and receive retroactive permission to wiretap "The administration . . . needed to act more quickly than the court could" is an out and out lie.
Someday soon we will need to erect a statue of "Dubya". It should have his face in that sneer-smirk for which he is famous and both arms extended upward with fists clenched save for an extended middle finger on each hand. This surely is the legacy of G.W. Bush.
Poet
Perhaps with the message:
"My only regret is that I shud've kill'd more frogs, with
___ W _ eapons
___ @ _ss
___ D _isintegration "
Namaste
Joan,
It has been reported that the spying started well before 9/11. It was supposed to have started in February of 2001. By reporting what you did, you're essentially giving the Bush Administrative cover (i.e. to keep Americans' safe) that they don't deserve. See the following article by the NY Times and the Washington Post:
NYT: Former Phone Chief Says Spy Agency Sought Surveillance Help Before 9/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/business/14qwest.html
WashPost: Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm - Qwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html?hpid=topnews
Judge Henry Kennedy was appointed by Clinton, so there is some hope he will apply some justice to this wiretap situation, but I'm not hopeful.
This same judge refused to investigate the destruction of CIA torture videos, saying that "there was no evidence the Bush administration violated a court order and the Justice Department deserved time to conduct its own investigation." He's leaving this matter up to Bush's Justice Department.
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=4111069
Yet there WAS a court order requiring the WH to produce the tapes, and instead they destroyed them:
"....The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a motion asking a federal judge to hold the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in contempt, charging that the agency flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of prisoners in its custody. In response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by the ACLU and other organizations in October 2003 and May 2004, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the CIA to produce or identify all records pertaining to the treatment of detainees in its custody. Despite the court’s ruling, the CIA never produced the tapes or even acknowledged their existence.
....CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly acknowledged that the CIA had made the tapes in 2002 but destroyed them in 2005."
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/33152prs20071212.html
Judge Kennedy is not asking for the tapes this time (futile anyway if they're destroyed) but is asking for the memos about the torture tapes. What's to prevent him from using the same rationale that this can be handled by the Justice Department?
Sioux Rose
ANNEY: It's nice to see you back, you add a lot to the CD discussion board.
Can anyone tell me why Hayden, Rumsfeld, etc. are not in jail?
Why put them in jail since Bush can and will pardon them and in the meantime leave real patriots like Ramos and Compean behind bars.
Is it too late? Can anyone be held accountable for these (probable) violations of citizens' constitutional rights? Perhaps the only good that will come of this will be the impetus it might provide to pass specific laws that will proscribe these excesses in the future.
It is funny that a judge has ordered anything. Usually, they ask for voluntary compliance which is promised and never happens.
Nothing will come of this before Jan. 20, then it will be moot and all Bu$h the inferior's accomplices will be pardoned or ignored so that they can come back into future administrations to continue the march to fascism.
Since when has our Congress ever held these executive scofflaws to account?
Maybe they will pointlessly buck it all the way up to the Roberts Supreme Court.
"...White House memos that provide the legal basis for..."
I'm going to start writing "memos" that will provide a "legal basis" for me to break laws that I don't like, too! Let's see, I'll start with a memo that provides a legal basis for me to go down to the bakery and pull up a chair and start eating all the pastries and donuts I wish without waiting in line or paying. Next, I'll write a memo that lets me walk down to the bank and go behind the counter and fill up a bag with hundred-dollar bills. How about a memo that provides a legal basis for me to drive whatever speed I want? Hmmm, this is going to be fun!
But if you go down to the bakery and start eating, the baker may whack you with a rolling pin; and if you go to the bank and make a, shall we say, casual withdrawal as you describe, the armed guards will shoot you.
That's the difference between you and the president. For you, just desserts are not off the table.
The mockery of our constitution and justice continues. One has to wonder just how weak the judicial system has been made by the Patriot Act.
All the power of the land has been swung to the President and Law Enforcement Agencies. With the DHS being the supreme leader.
What the hell is going on with the Supreme Court and lawyers in this country.
Fight,Fight,Fight for our constitution.
Fight for the restoration of checks and balances, don't let them dictate what national security is, thats your job.
National security is protecting the Constitution at all costs.
Who is responsible for warrant less surveillance at City,County and state levels?
And where are the checks and balances to stop this nation wide abuse, people that will use this power to crush their political enemies,advance an agenda or destroy people they don't like.
There is no paper trail , and the power is staggering. Lies, fabrication of evidence, anything goes to build this spy network.
Tampa Florida suspects provide training for agencies during the winter months that want a vacation near the beaches,golf courses and amusement parks.
Miami Beach suspects that work on cruise lines, hey all aboard.
Colorado suspects, skiing anyone.
I bet there are no suspects in the middle of Nebraska , Montana , or Utah.
Come on, this is a huge joke, and peoples lives are being trashed so that these guys can rule the country with fear and suspects.
I want to know how deep this rabbit hole goes. I want my day in court.
I know what I am talking about , I live in Tampa Florida and travel for my work through 6 county's.
If I could get Verizon phone records of who is being tapped in Tampa, I can prove everything I just mentioned above, but they gave the bastards Immunity.
BornFreeMen
Surveillance Torture Victim since Dec 2006, Tampa Florida
By the way, I would really like to sue Verizon and the IAFF for damages.
Barack Obama, in true form, sided with the crooks on this one. How could any one think the corporate leaders intend for him to become an agent "for the people, by the people, and of the people."
This is the more accurate reality:
"That's not the way the world works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." (a senior GW Bush adviser, talking to David Suskind)
Anyone feel like giving them something to "study" for a change. We Americans are such whimps! How can we let them get away with these things? Obama is just as tied in to the corporate structure as McCain. How could it be otherwise? This is not 1938. The above quote gives me shivers, it's sounds fascist.
.
Nader says...
"Wake up Americans! Cut the crap and take over."
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I think that the Supremes already ruled that the Executive Branch was in defiance of law by refusing to supply the tapes, by refusing to make Rove and Miers testify, etc.
WHY arent the "loyal oopposition" doing anything??
BTW--You could have sued ATT (and Veruzon) if Congress had not signed the FISA Amendments.
"It's an important decision because up to this point the judge has relied on the government's assertion that it has done everything properly under the law and that it has disclosed everything it needs to disclose," Rotenberg said Saturday."
Anyone who honestly believes that this admiinistration has done ANYTHING properly and under the law is so unaware of reality that hey could not be condidered sane. I have found it absolutely beyond belief that one administration, or for that matter, TWO PEOPLE (if they can truly be called people, i.e one being satan himself, and the other being the long sought anthropological "missing link") could continously have such in your face, blatent contempt for the law and suffer absolutely no conequences whatsoever.
What I expect to see from this judgement is more of the same. Bu$h will simply refuse to comply with the judge's order, and that will be the end of it. The best way to predict future behavior is observation of past behavior.
"It's an important decision because up to this point the judge has relied on the government's assertion that it has done everything properly under the law and that it has disclosed everything it needs to disclose," Rotenberg said Saturday."
Anyone who honestly believes that this admiinistration has done ANYTHING properly and under the law is so unaware of reality that hey could not be condidered sane. I have found it absolutely beyond belief that one administration, or for that matter, TWO PEOPLE (if they can truly be called people, i.e one being satan himself, and the other being the long sought anthropological "missing link") could continously have such in your face, blatent contempt for the law and suffer absolutely no conequences whatsoever.
What I expect to see from this judgement is more of the same. Bu$h will simply refuse to comply with the judge's order, and that will be the end of it. The best way to predict future behavior is observation of past behavior.
"Judge Orders White House......" Ha...ha...ha....ha...and ha!..............AS IF this administration is NOT above the law! Earth to Judge, Earth to Judge! But, have NO FEAR, Obama will fix this and rescind any power the shrub has gained....ROTFLMAO!!! Nothing like a good laugh on a Sunday afternoon.
Add my same thoughts.
sad but true
i logged in to write exactly what you've written............ha ha ha ha ha. what a laugh; you're spot on there.
Beat ya to it, eh? It's rare I laugh any more, but this is a huge guffaw!
Judge Henry Kennedy Jr.said he will review the memos to see if it jeopardizes national security. When will the American people demand that our government people quit using national security as a red herring? In most cases, it has nothing to do with national security. What we are talking about is their security; corporate security; the criminals in government security; ect. One wonders if I asked to see what brand of toilet paper Bush uses in his bathroom at the White House, I would be told it needs to be reviewed so as not to jeopardize national security!
No! You already know!! It is called the Constitution (also the Bill of Rights!)
LOL...