THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LawCrossing Legal Daily News Feature
Who Are You to Challenge The Wiretap Law? The wiretap law is in the middle of controversy again. Amidst greater waves of concern expressed by civil rights activists, the U.S. Supreme Court is now set to consider whether lawyers and civil rights activists have the locus standi to challenge a federal law for government surveillance of phone calls and internet communications. The government has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit brought by ACLU and other plaintiffs including international rights activists, and top journalists. 05/22/12
powers can and should be tested out in court… We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will agree.”
The plaintiffs filed their case before a New York federal court alleging that 2008 amendments made to
The courts, of course, with their troublesome ways of
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act violate the
meddling with the affairs of Big Brother Barrack have
Constitution and allows monitoring and tapping the
pushed the case up to the Supreme Court, without
international communications of Americans unrelated
allowing it to get dismissed. The Court of Appeals for
with criminal or terrorist activities. The law protects
the 2nd Circuit in New York held that the lawsuit could
telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and others for
proceed and that U.S. lawyers, activists and journalists
allowing the government to use their network for
have a right cause of concern, because if they were on
improper wiretapping.
a phone call where the party at the other end was a target of surveillance the law allowed the government to tap the conversation.
So, the first issue to be settled is who are you to challenge the fundamental rights of the government to listen to phone calls made by every citizen? Big Brother
Especially in case of journalists who work on
has the rights to watch, listen, and peep everywhere,
international news and do investigative journalism,
who are you to question? And now the Supreme Court
as well as lawyers, the law has caused terror. The
is all settled not to decide the constitutionality of the
alternative to a phone call has become a costly and
actions of Big Brother, but whether ACLU and the other
risky operation of travelling to a foreign country to talk
plaintiffs have the rights to raise such issues.
face to face with people.
The Obama administration, which inducted the
The Justice Department held the appeals court to be
questionable amendments in the first place, wants
lax and lenient in its interpretations which did not suit
the court to throw out the case, but first make the
Big Brother and said that concerns over government
attempt to throw out the plaintiffs, so that , no one
surveillance were “completely speculative.”
, ever, dares to challenge Big Brother Barrack again. Without addressing the constitutionality of the laws or
Does anyone in this country still remember Nixon?
the issues that have been raised, the government has submitted that civil rights activists do not have the
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-21/
legal standing to challenge wiretapping laws.
supreme-court-to-consider-suit-challenging-wiretap-law
The ACLU lawyer, Jameel Jaffer told the media “The
Meta: U.S. Supreme Court to decide the legal standing
constitutionality of the government’s surveillance
of social activists to challenge wiretapping law
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