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Old 06-25-2013, 02:22 PM  
Joe Obenberger
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Chicago
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Quote:
Originally Posted by theking View Post
You are correct about your "understanding". It is my "understanding" that the three branches of government...with judicial over view in particular...determines what is within the constitution and what is not. It is my "understanding" that...at this point in time...the current actions of the NSA has been found to be within the constitution by all three branches of government.
Issues of constitutionality and legality are litigated one case at a time, one issue at a time. Many of the issues Snowden raises, if not all of them, have never been litigated - because the extent of the surveillance was unknown, classified, protected by threats to prosecute anyone who might tell the American people what was going on. It was this kind of judicial oversight that the intelligence community was always afraid of, and it's why they engineered a system such as it is. Perhaps now cases and litigants can emerge, the programs can be examined in the full light of day, and the courts can determine whether our right to privacy has been violated without reasonable cause. It's about time that the government becomes accountable to the people and the people's courts that protect them.
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Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice. . . Restraint in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue.
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