Meet The Chief Justice Of America’s Secret Supreme Court

[xchrom]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/meet-the-chief-justice-of-americas-secret-supreme-court



WASHINGTON — The chief judge of America’s most powerful secret court is a 64-year old man who has said his path toward the law began in part when he was stopped by police in the early 1960s simply for being black, and who once said he became a lawyer to “make an impact on the quality of life for people of color in this country.”

Reggie Walton is the Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, whose 11 members are appointed directly by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Revelations of broad spying by the National Security Agency have drawn unusual attention to the Court, which the New York Times reported Sunday “has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data.”

Walton has not spoken publicly about his role, and did not respond to an inquiry from BuzzFeed: People who know him spoke largely on the condition of anonymity. But in little-read interviews and in decisions, footnotes, and statements from the bench, Walton has offered clues at a worldview whose contours mirror the growing public comfort with an expansive role for law enforcement in Americans’ lives. A judge who one former clerk described as “fair but harsh” in his sentences, he has shown a liberal streak on social policy from incarceration to drug crime, but has been dismissive of questions about the limits of executive power.

A 1993 interview with author Linn Washington paints a picture of a man who views the law and government as having a sweeping role in creating “social change.”

[graham4anything]

1. Walton sentenced Scooter Libby to 30 months in jail immediate,received threatening letters(from wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Walton

Walton also presided over the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby. On March 6, 2007, the jury convicted Libby of four of the five counts with which he was charged: two counts of perjury, one of obstruction of justice, and one of making false statements to federal investigators.[4] On June 5, 2007, Walton sentenced Libby to 30 months in federal prison and a fine of US$250,000, and, subsequently, he ordered that Libby report to jail without bail pending any appeals.[5] On June 20, 2007, Libby appealed Walton's ruling in federal appeals court.[6] The next day, Walton filed a 30-page expanded ruling, in which he explained his decision to deny Libby bail in more detail.[7]

Further information: United States v. Libby#Sentencing and United States v. Libby#Libby ordered to jail pending appeal

Walton received several threatening letters after pronouncing sentence on Libby


also, ---

In fall 2005, the judge was driving his wife and daughter to the airport for a vacation when he came across an assailant attacking a cab driver on the side of the road. Walton tackled the assailant and subdued him until police arrived. The D.C. police spokesperson noted in response, "God bless Judge Walton. I surely wouldn't want to mess with him."[3]

[cascadiance]

2. Walton was also earlier "randomly assigned" to Sibel Edmonds cases...

... where he effectively helped the government use state secrets privilege to shut down these court cases too.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/node/1070

...
So it would be natural to suppose that Walton has some loyalty to the Bush administration, but that alone is not proof of bias with respect to the Edmonds and Valerie Plame-related cases.

Still, Edmonds points out that the way Walton landed on her original whistleblower-related case (the one the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear), as well her currently pending case, does seem a bit more than a cosmic coincidence.

“Walton was the original judge on my case (the Supreme Court case), when we filed our case (in District Court in Washington, D.C.) in July 2002,” Edmonds says. “Another judge was assigned to it, then, mysteriously and with no reason, it was transferred to another judge, and then again, a few weeks later, it was transferred to Walton.

“Walton is now assigned to my (new) case, … another random one.”

So Judge Walton seems to be in a critical role in serving as the point man in the federal judicial system for two explosive cases — the Edmonds civil case and Libby’s criminal case — both of which have vast implications for the White House and for the country in general.
...

Walton has had a heavy history of protecting the secrecy of the national security complex. This leadership position of his stinks.

[xchrom]

3. +1

[magellan]

5. +2 n/t

[Octafish]

7. Justice is its own reward.

Heh heh heh.

[cascadiance]

4. bump and 12 of the 14 member of FISA Court are Republican appointments...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/21/us-usa-security-fisa-judges-idUSBRE95K06H20130621

[magellan]

6. That's okay. We only don't trust Repubs when they operate out in the open.

[Octafish]

8. They are qualified and have the necessary gravitas.

Democrats are so...so...common.

mo'

[cascadiance]

9. Another reason to impeach John Roberts for packing the court...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-government-surveillance-john-roberts-fisa-court-20130705,0,1255674.story

Seems like these nominees should go through the Senate for approval much like Obama's do, so that we can repay that damn Republicans for their filibustering/blocking of Obama's nominees on other courts. That way, at least some horse trading could occur to get more balance on this court or on other courts like the DC Circuit Court where they are blocking nominees for four vacancies so that they can keep a Republican majority on this court...

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/the-g-o-p-s-court-shrinking-plan/

[Octafish]

11. Thank you, cascadiance! Outstanding Op-Ed, that.

I’m not convinced that Roberts is packing the court with patsies for the national surveillance state. But it is anomalous that all 11 members of this important court are appointed by the chief justice, albeit from a pool of judges nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate for ordinary federal trial courts.

The FISA court has morphed into an arm of those people it's supposed to watch: the BFEE.

[frylock]

10. blame nader is the new talking point