Technology and Business Law Blog

Surveillance and the Warrantless Wiretapping Bill

President Bush after signing the surveillance and the warrantless wiretapping bill, said the bill gives the government anti-terror tools it needs without compromising Americans’ civil liberties.

I don’t understand how the bill does not compromises Americans’ civil liberties. In fact it has shut the door on any possibilities for civil liberties that are so fundamental in the Constitution. It is just a political game to which the Democrats have succumbed. I am real disappointed that Obama for all that he said that he was against the war on Iraq and was going to CHANGE things in Washington, voted for the bill and just joined forces with Washington.

ACLU’s has filed a lawsuit on behalf of several civil rights groups. It wants a federal judge in New York to rule that the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech and the right against unlawful search and seizure. It also asks that the judge permanently block intelligence officials from conducting surveillance under the law.

“The new law gives the government the power to conduct dragnet surveillance that has no connection to terrorism or criminal activity of any kind,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a conference call to reporters.

I hope the court decides that the bill is unconstitutional and preserves the sanctity of the judicial process just as the Supreme Court decided that holding the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay indefinitely without a trial was unconstitutional and that the prisoners had a right to a civil trial.

July 11, 2008 Posted by Sujatha Ganesan | Uncategorized | , | 2 Comments