Judge throws out provision of Patriot Act

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 06:44:02 AM MST

A federal judge struck down controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act in a ruling that declared them unconstitutional yesterday, ordering the FBI to stop its wide use of a warrantless tactic for obtaining e-mail and telephone data from private companies for counterterrorism investigations.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York said the FBI's use of secret "national security letters" to demand such data violates the First Amendment and constitutional provisions on the separation of powers, because the FBI can impose indefinite gag orders on the companies and the courts have little opportunity to review the letters.

Now you and I might think that the government accessing our private information without any judicial oversight, or any chance to even petition the invasion, is a flagrant violation of our civil rights. And we'd be right. But that won't stop conservatives from crying that this decision hurts our national security. (It's sort of amusing how the wingnut assumes the Clinton-appointed judge is acting out of political motivation rather than principle. I guess you always see in your enemies what exists in yourself.)

But before you fall for this hysteria, remember who you're dealing with.

Maybe it's time to dust off the 2006 Senate debate in Butte:

...Senator Burns accused the Big Sandy farmer of wanting to revise the Patriot Act. "I don't want to revise the Patriot Act," responded Tester, "I want to repeal it."  Later in the same debate, Tester answered sharply to a question on gun control with a statement that was considered quintessential Western Democrat: "With things like the Patriot Act, we'd damn well better keep our guns."