After exposure by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, it took seven years. But last week a federal appeals court ruling came down. It says the Obama-Era NSA’s bulk collection of phone metadata was both illegal and unnecessary.
This is yet another reminder to Americans. The government will trample our rights. It does so most often in the name of security. When people feel threatened it is easiest. This is true even when it is neither just nor necessary to do so.
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on Sept. 2. In part the ruling says, “… the metadata collection exceeded the scope of Congress’s authorization … which required the government to make a showing of relevance to a particular authorized investigation before collecting the records …”
The court concludes “the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment and did violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (‘FISA’) when it collected the telephony metadata of millions of Americans.”
The case
The case involved appeals from four Somali immigrants. They were convicted for “sending, or conspiring to send, $10,900 to Somalia to support a foreign terrorist organization.”
Notably, the panel, having condemned the metadata collection program, affirmed the convictions. In this case, lawful wiretaps gave the government more than enough information to go after these individuals. Evidence collected by way of the metadata program wasn’t essential to the case.
Edward Snowden tweets in response to the ruling, “… Seven years ago, as the news declared I was being charged as a criminal for speaking the truth, I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA’s activities as unlawful and in the same ruling credit me for exposing them … And yet that day has arrived.”
The ruling comes not long after President Trump mentioned he was considering pardoning Snowden. Snowden broke the law. He did so in the interest of revealing to the American people the extent to which the government was willing to go to spy on them. He deserves a pardon.
Snowden has shown the NSA was all too willing to stretch the limits of its authority. It even played games with the Constitution to collect sweeping amounts of information on Americans. It uses a laundry list of programs to do so.
The Fourth Amendment is clear: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Conclusion
Because technology advances don’t mean the U.S. Constitution doesn’t hold true today. Americans can understand why government agencies want broad access to electronic information. This does not mean the government can or should be able to access it without constraints. Constraints on government power exist for a reason.
The NSA has violated our rights … it’s official. Now, what are we going to do about it? The Bill of Rights protects the citizen from the imposition of tyranny by the government. It’s official the NSA has violated our rights … Did you hear about this from your MSM outlets? No, of course not; and we all Grok why.