◼ Is the terrorist threat enough for all Americans to give up their Constitutional rights? - By David H. Laufman/Washington Times
In the latest fallout from Edward Snowden’s leaks of classified information, a federal court last week dealt an unprecedented blow to the government in criminal prosecutions where a defendant has been subject to communications intercepts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
For the first time in FISA’s 36-year history, a federal district judge ordered the Department of Justice to disclose to the defense the government’s application for FISA surveillance of the defendant — despite an affidavit from Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. stating that such disclosure would harm U.S. national security.
The case thus represents a further erosion in the judiciary’s willingness to accept government invocations of “national security” without more critical examination.
