FLE

Judge Taylor's Tapped-Out Argument

When President George Bush confidently told reporters Friday that a district court judge's ruling against his administration's secret wiretap program would be overturned, he wasn't just spinning. There is a good chance he is right. As much as it might pain those looking for something, anything, to use against the Bush administration's ever-increasing definition of executive power, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's opinion probably ain't it. There is a reason the Justice Department rushed to appeal this decision. "There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution," Taylor wrote in her decision, a much-needed attempt at some executive-bashing rhetoric. It sounds to these ears like a conscious callback to the debates on the Constitution itself, when the fear of an untamed despot was palpable. But as part of a legal opinion? Not so much. It isn't just the decision's language that falls short. As Eugene Volokh and his merry band of bloggers have teased out, the underpinnings of the relatively terse 43-page decision are weak or confused. It turns out that the National Security Agency's program violates the First Amendment only because it violates the Fourth Amendment. In essence, Judge Taylor agrees with the Justice Department that citizens have no constitutional right to private conversations, that the government can always listen in provided it has a good enough reason. So then the primary question is down to the "reasonableness" of the NSA program. And what does Judge Taylor say? Why, she says the program "obviously" violates the Fourth Amendment and moves on. An appeals court is going to be all over that move like Ft. Meade on a cell call to Islamabad....

Conflict of Interest Is Raised in N.S.A. Ruling

The federal judge who ruled last week that President Bush’s eavesdropping program was unconstitutional is a trustee and an officer of a group that has given at least $125,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan, a watchdog group said Tuesday. The group, Judicial Watch, a conservative organization here that found the connection, said the link posed a possible conflict for the judge, Anna Taylor Diggs, and called for further investigation. “The system relies on judges to exercise good judgment, and we need more information and more explanation about what the court’s involvement was in support of the A.C.L.U.,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, which gained attention in the 1990’s for ethics accusations against President Bill Clinton. Three legal ethicists interviewed said although Judge Taylor’s role as a trustee for a supporter of the civil liberties group would not necessarily disqualify her from hearing the case, she should have probably disclosed the connection in court to avoid any appearance of a conflict. “It certainly would have been prudent” to notify the parties in the case, including the Justice Department, about the issue, said Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University and an author of “Judicial Conduct and Ethics.”....

Feds Sue to Block Release of Records

Federal prosecutors sued state utility regulators and Verizon Communications Inc. on Monday to block the release of information related to the government's domestic surveillance program. The Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 9 ordered Verizon to provide a sworn statement about the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program. The PUC was reacting to alleged privacy law violations. Complying with the order would "place Verizon in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of information that cannot be confirmed or denied without causing exceptionally grave harm to national security," the suit says. Commission spokesman Phil Lindley did not return a message Monday. In May, Verizon said it would not discuss any relationship with the NSA program, but denied reports that it had provided customer call data or records. The Justice Department has also sued to prevent disclosure of similar confidential information in New Jersey and Missouri.

Donation will allow Minutemen to erect high-tech border fence

A Washington-based company is donating up to $7 million worth of fiber-optic security fencing material for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to use in any new barriers the group erects to try to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona. The mesh has embedded sensors that can differentiate between human and animal contact and conditions such as high winds or heavy rain. Tied into cameras and alarms, the system can alert monitors to the precise location of any intrusion. "We're certainly not against immigration," said Nina May, the head of FOMGuard USA, which is donating the material. "We're against illegal immigration, because there are standards to follow. Too many people stand in line for years, and it's not fair to them." May said the mesh security fencing was designed for use along the demilitarized zone with North Korea. The system pushes infrared light pulses continuously through the fiber-optic wire mesh, which is called FOM, for Fiber Optic Mesh. It can use the pulsing light to detect if the mesh is stretched or cut and what is pushing or pulling at its strands....

Texas Sheriffs: Terrorists Entering U.S. from Mexico

The chief law enforcement officers of several Texas counties along the southern U.S. border warn that Arabic-speaking individuals are learning Spanish and integrating into Mexican culture before paying smugglers to sneak them into the United States. The Texas Sheriffs' Border Coalition believes those individuals are likely terrorists and that drug cartels and some members of the Mexican military are helping them get across the border. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County, Texas told Cybercast News Service that Iranian currency, military badges in Arabic, jackets and other clothing are among the items that have been discovered along the banks of the Rio Grande River. The sheriff also said there are a substantial number of individuals crossing the southern border into the U.S. who are not Mexican. He described the individuals in question as well-funded and able to pay so-called "coyotes" - human smugglers - large sums of money for help gaining illegal entry into the U.S. Although many of the non-Mexican illegal aliens are fluent in Spanish, Gonzalez said they speak with an accent that is not native....

Legislators seek review of border agents' conviction

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have asked for congressional hearings and reviews by the White House and Justice Department into the conviction of two U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot and wounded a fleeing drug suspect. The agents, convicted by a federal jury in El Paso in March, face 20 years in prison at a sentencing hearing next month. "It appears the facts do not add up or justify the length of the sentences for these agents, let alone their conviction on multiple counts," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat. "Border Patrol agents have a difficult and often dangerous job in guarding our nation's borders. "Undue prosecution of Border Patrol agents could have a chilling effect on their ability to carry out their duties," Mrs. Feinstein said in a letter Monday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, requesting a full hearing into the matter. She asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales last week to investigate the case. The U.S. attorney's office in El Paso, which reports to the Justice Department, prosecuted the two agents. In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, asked the White House to review the case, saying the prosecution was "outrageous." He said it did nothing but "tie the hands of the Border Patrol and prevent the agency from securing America against a flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, counterfeit goods and, quite possibly, terrorists."....

Mexican nature park offers mock illegal border crossing

On a misty, moonless night, the group scurried down the canyon wall, their feet slipping in the ankle-high mud. The sirens grew louder as their guide, clad in a ski mask and known only as Poncho, urged them to run faster. "Hurry up! The Border Patrol is coming!" A couple in matching designer tennis outfits loped awkwardly along, the boyfriend clutching a digital video camera and struggling to keep the pop-out screen steady. The 20 or so people fleeing the Border Patrol aren't undocumented immigrants - they're tourists about 700 miles from the border. Most are well-heeled professionals more likely to travel to the United States in an airplane than on foot. They've each paid 150 pesos - about $15 - for what is perhaps Mexico's strangest tourist attraction: A night as an illegal immigrant crossing the Rio Grande. Advertising for the mock journey, which takes place at a nature park in the central state of Hidalgo, tells the pretend immigrants to "Make fun of the Border Patrol!" and to "Cross the Border as an Extreme Sport!"....

When a President Betrays His Country

Recent papers released from the Clinton Presidential Library reveal a well-orchestrated and clearly defined roadmap to impose severe restrictions on firearm owners, manufacturers, and dealers. Perhaps the most sinister is the deliberate attempt to financially cripple firearm manufacturers and dealers via class action lawsuits. In an effort to mimic the lawsuits levied against tobacco companies, the Clinton Administration appears to have had direct involvement in its support and furthering of such lawsuits. Of course, the major difference between tobacco and firearms is that firearms save an estimated 2.5 million lives year, whereas tobacco is not reported to save any lives whatsoever. Clearly the benefit of owning a firearm far outweighs any possible risk of owning one. A draft press release from the "Center to Prevent Handgun Violence" (a.k.a. "Brady Campaign", a.k.a. "Handgun Control") along with numerous talking points that appear to be right out of the "Brady Campaign" playbook are also included in the recently released documents. One might be inclined to wonder whether or not the "Brady Campaign" was working out of the President's office. Mandatory licensing of gun owners, regular cross-checking of gun owners against the criminal databases, "smart gun" technology, a ban on private party transfers (a.k.a. "gun show loophole"), mandatory child safety locks, and a ban on the importation of semi-automatic magazines that hold more than ten rounds (a.k.a. "high capacity clips [sic]") are just a few of the highlights of the Clinton plan....