The Director of National Intelligence issued a statement late last night about the NSA collection flap. It’s the smartest thing the government has released so far, and its justification for the program in question seems to confirm my speculation in Foreign Policy yesterday. First, large-scale collections give the government a way to screen for patterns […]
Archive | June, 2013
Ruminations on the FISA Court and the Bush Administration’s “Terrorist Surveillance Program”
[This post is sheer speculation; I may be way off. Read accordingly.] Longtime readers will recall the dispute in 2005-2006 over the legality of the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, aka the “Terrorist Surveillance Program,” which was revealed in December 2005 by the New York Times. Recall that several DOJ officials threatened to resign over […]
Is the PRISM Surveillance Program Legal?
The leaked news about the PRISM surveillance program has been the big news story today. The details are murky, but one question that we should be asking is whether the program is legal. From what I’ve seen so far, it sounds like the program is the way the government is implementing the FISA Amendments Act […]
Feinstein & Chambliss Confirm That NSA Call Records Program Has Been Operating Under FISA Orders for 7 Years
It turns out that the FISA court order disclosed yesterday — the one forcing Verizon to turn over all telephone metadata — was just the latest renewal of a court order that the government first obtained seven years ago. So I gather that every 90 days, they go back and say, “yes, getting the entire […]
NSA and FBI Have Real-Time Access to Major U.S. Internet Companies to Track Individuals Outside U.S.
Bart Gellman and Laura Poitras have a huge new story in the Washington Post: The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. […]
The FISA Court Order Flap: Take a Deep Breath
There may be a lot less to the NSA “scandal” than meets the eye. In an article for Foreign Policy, I explain why I am quite confident that the program underlying the FISA court order is lawful: [T]his is not some warrantless or extra-statutory surveillance program. The government had to persuade up to a dozen […]
Batman, Appropriations, and “Augmentation”
By Ryan Davidson, guest-blogging on June 6, 2013 9:48 am in Constitutional Law, Literature, Popular Culture
My co-author James has made a few posts already this week, and I’d like to thank Professor Volokh for the opportunity to participate here. I’m going to chip in with a post about Batman based on the last few issues of Detective Comics vol. 1, # 871-881. Number 881 is actually the very last issue […]
Subtle Wit and Subtle Eloquence in Briefs
In my First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic this Fall, students will naturally be told to write clearly, concretely, and precisely, with sound reasoning and in a calm, credible tone. But while that’s important, it does help to have some flair, some wit, and even some eloquence, if it doesn’t undermine the other requirements. Naturally, this […]
Is Verizon Turning Over Records of Every Domestic Call to the NSA?
Over at The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald has a report on a leaked top secret court order apparently issued by Judge Vinson of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordering Verizon to turn over all metadata on all domestic calls (including calls between the U.S. and a foreign country) for a period of 90 days from April […]
Political Ignorance and Partisan Bias Go Down When Survey Respondents Are Rewarded for Correct Answers
By Ilya Somin on June 5, 2013 6:24 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Public Opinion, Voting With Your Feet
Many studies show that there is widespread political ignorance, with large percentages of the public ignorant of fairly basic facts. In addition, voters’ perception of the facts is often heavily influenced by partisan bias. For example, Republicans overestimate the rates of inflation and unemployment when there is a Democratic president, while Democrats have the opposite […]
The Adventure of the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
(I’ll be honest: this post isn’t really about the fruit of the poisonous tree so much as it’s about Sherlock’s possible status as a state actor and thus whether or not the restrictions of the Fourth Amendment apply to him. The poisonous tree bit just makes for a snappier title and is at least somewhat […]
Did the Government’s Affidavit Label James Rosen (Fox News Reporter) a Flight Risk?
I’ve seen many sources so stating, and some inferring from that the government was indeed contemplating prosecuting Rosen — contrary to Attorney General Holder’s later statements — because, otherwise, why would they worry about his fleeing? But, as I read the affidavit, the government wasn’t specifically saying that Rosen was a flight risk. Rather, unless […]
Training Drug-Sniffing Dogs Not to Detect Pot
Since the state of Washington legalized marijuana in a referendum last November, some Washington police departments have been trying to teach their drug-sniffing dogs not to detect pot: When Dusty, a 19-month-old black Labrador, walked past a pipe full of marijuana during a recent police search of a house, he was doing exactly what his […]
The Louisiana Supreme Court voucher ruling
Last month, on May 7, the Louisiana Supreme Court struck down a school voucher plan. (Jonathan reported on it here.) Now I’ve got a post up about the decision on the Reason Foundation web site. Here’s an excerpt: This May 7, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 6–1, in Louisiana Federation of Teachers v. Louisiana, that […]
Federalist Society First Annual Executive Branch Review Conference
Next week the Federalist Society is presenting an “Executive Branch Review Conference” which it confidently bills as the “First Annual.” Jonathan and I are on the program in addition to multiple others. CLE credit is available. Information is available here.