Judge Orders White House To Produce Wiretap Memos 178
sv_libertarian sends this excerpt from the Associated Press:
"A judge has ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memos that provide the legal basis for the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program. US District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. signed an order (PDF) 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."
"Post-Sept 11." -- say what? (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Accountability ? (Score:4, Informative)
No.
Obama voted for the bill that pretty much rubber stamps Bush's current surveillance and wiretapping regime.
Re:I still don't get why this is neccessary (Score:3, Informative)
Not to nitpick, but some FISA taps have in fact been denied (granted, not many):
http://epic.org/privacy/wiretap/stats/fisa_stats.html [epic.org]
To add a thought, just because the ratio is historically so low doesn't necessarily justify as a fact that the whole game isn't rigged in the first place.
Re:Accountability ? (Score:2, Informative)
It's rare for any branch that has expanded its powers to relinquish them. Usually this is done legally, by declaring such action unconstitutional.
Maybe we'll get some moderates/lefties in SCOTUS and some of the nonsense will be so declared.
Re:Who does the judge think he is? (Score:3, Informative)
The Department of Justice is not the lawyer for the White House--they have White House Counsel for that, and their work is privileged. Any work produced by the DOJ on request from the White House is, by definition, not privileged. It's a request to a third party to produce a legal opinion. The memos are the equivalent of going to the EFF and asking them to produce a 'friend of the court' brief; the fact that you requested it and they didn't doesn't create the attorney-client relationship, so privilege isn't an issue.
Yeah, sure (Score:4, Informative)
I predict it will play out something like similar demands have in the past:
GWB: Fuck you.
Federal judge: Yes sir. Sorry to have bothered you.