Norman Solomon: The Bill of Rights Exists: An Open Letter to Dianne Feinstein

[marmar]

Published on Friday, June 7, 2013 by Common Dreams
The Bill of Rights Exists: An Open Letter to Dianne Feinstein

by Norman Solomon



Dear Senator Feinstein:

On Thursday, when you responded to news about massive ongoing surveillance of phone records of people in the United States, you slipped past the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. As the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, you seem to be in the habit of treating the Bill of Rights as merely advisory.

The Constitution doesn’t get any better than this: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The greatness of the Fourth Amendment explains why so many Americans took it to heart in civics class, and why so many of us treasure it today. But along with other high-ranking members of Congress and the president of the United States, you have continued to chip away at this sacred bedrock of civil liberties.

As The Guardian reported the night before your sudden news conference, the leaked secret court order “shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk—regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/06/07

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[Michigan-Arizona]

2. K&R

[haydukelives]

3. kick

and recommended.

[h2ebits]

4. I've posted the article to my FB page--thanks for posting it on DU

[BrotherIvan]

5. Rec before the spinners get here

[Igel]

6. I still don't get it.

This is an old, old story.

Last time part of it was concerning "pen registries," if I remember the term correctly. The same debate: information about phone calls placed overseas and to certain organizations/people and looking at non-citizen and overseas-directed digital but non-voice/video communications.


This particular program may date to 2006. But we were having this debate in 2004. With the same outcome. This is one of those really weird situations in which the top guy's gone from (R) to (D), but the participants in the outcry and the terms of their outcry are pretty much unchanged. Perhaps a bit muted on the left, perhaps a tad more shrill on the right, but pretty much unchanged.

What has changed is the background noise related to suspicions and complaints that date to the * administration about massive data pipelines, wholesale recording and searching of voice and video records. They were pretty pathetic suspicions then. They're the same now and fall squarely under Fox Mulder's "I want to believe" slogan featured so prominently over his desk.