(Federal) Judge to Rule if President Can Illegally Spy on Americans

Source: WIRED News

A federal judge will rule on the merits of a legal challenge weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress, as President George W. Bush did, and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled similarly in January and February, but entertained and rejected (.pdf) a second Obama administration challenge late Friday that the case was barred by the state secrets doctrine. The government said the case threatened to harm national security.

Absent intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court, the case is the only lawsuit likely to litigate the merits of a challenge to Bush's secret eavesdropping program adopted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. A federal appeals court already rejected the Obama and Bush administration's bid to dismiss the case, despite government assertions the lawsuit might expose government secrets.

The Obama administration had threatened that it might disobey Walker's orders. However, Walker said the case would be litigated, even though the government said Walker had no authority to see the case through. The judge, in announcing he would decide the "merits" of the litigation, ruled the government must share classified data with opposing lawyers, who are gagged from disclosing its contents to the public.

Read more: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/judge-to-rule-i.html

There are many news articles revealing this fact, which is routinely ignored by the corporate media these days.

Here's one: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/business/14qwest.html

"If the President does it, it's not illegal"

Is it actually possible that Obama wants to do warrantless wiretapping?

Dear God, please no.

Is the ability to keep questionable activities from being ruled on by courts. If you review Bush's actions you'll see a pattern of stalling, obfuscating, and last minute sleight of hand designed to undermine the right of the judge to rule. Obama's best strategy in PREVENTING future abuse is to push these cases through the courts for definitive, rulings that will bind future legislative and executive attempts to capitalize on ambiguity.

What's a little illegal wiretapping when Obama's also decided to let our war criminals skate and put the ruined economy in the hands of his hand-picked cronies who benefit financially from it being that way?

None.

He only promises change.

NO!

the title blows me away.

This sounds like Nixon. You can make your list of personal enemies, and use the power of the federal government to destroy them.

And this is a change from the b*s* administration's disregard for the rule of law HOW, exactly?

Anything done by a District Judge can be undone by the Circuit Court of Appeals, then SCOTUS, with sometimes the whole circuit en banc before the supremes.

Think about it, Congress and a President pass a law but both view it differently. Fortunately, the Constitution gives neither the right to decide a law over the other and it goes to the third branch. And those procedures keep it an open question until SCOTUS decides it or refuses the case.

Bushco lost their nerve rather than fight to a decision. If they had, SCOTUS COULD have decided that Congress can prohibit/regulate only domestic to domestic surveillance but not the intercept of anything crossing the border (like customs can strip search ANYONE without a warrant). Then where would we be? Is that where Pres Obama is headed? I don't really think so, but he's not in the Congress anymore. Where you stand depends on where you sit.