Posted by Tina
WOW!!! What a difference a change president makes:
*The authorities may lawfully conduct searches and electronic surveillance against United States citizens in foreign countries without a warrant, a federal appeals court panel said on Monday, bolstering the governments power to investigate terrorism by ruling that a key constitutional protection afforded to Americans does not apply overseas. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan *** The panel said the electronic surveillance was justified and reasonable for a number of reasons, including that sustained and intense monitoring was necessary to understand a complex, wide-ranging and decentralized organization like Al Qaeda; and that members of covert terrorist organizations often communicated in code. *** While the intrusion on el-Hages privacy was great, the need for the government to so intrude was even greater, Judge Cabranes wrote. *** This is going to be a very important precedent that intelligence agencies are going to look at, that the new Obama administration is going to look at, Orin S. Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University, said on Monday. These issues are critical, and the courts rarely rule on them. *** The panel also made it easier for prosecutors to protect sensitive information in terrorism cases by holding that judges may bar defendants from having access to classified materials that their lawyers may otherwise examine, if there is concern that unauthorized disclosures of information could jeopardize lives or investigations. * NYT
What do you say now Libs?