Originally Posted by Joe Obenberger

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.