Wiretap Appeals Judge: "I feel like I'm in Alice & Wonderland"

[kpete]

NSA Judge: 'I feel like I'm in Alice and Wonderland'
By Kevin Poulsen August 15, 2007 | 6:33:00 PMCategories: NSA

Ryan Singel and David Kravets are blogging the U.S. 9th Circuit hearing on the NSA's spying, and AT&T's alleged complicity, reporting live from the San Francisco courthouse.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/nsa-hearing-ope.html

.............

As Kagro X explained this morning, the plaintiff's attorneys were forced to view the documents without being able to make any notes and had to write their briefs within the constant surveillance of the authorities (so wrong on so many levels), yet even after all this rigmarole, the government is now claiming that even attorney recollections are inadmissible because they can't be verified against the documents the government won't allow them to see.

Judge Hawkins (the third of the 3 judges on the Appellate Panel) is skeptical:

"Every ampersand, every comma is Top Secret?," Hawkins asks.

Yup, says Bondy:

"This document is totally non-redactable and non-segregable and cannot even be meaningfully described," Bondy answers.

The government says the purported log of calls between one of the Islamic charity directors and two American lawyers is classified Top Secret and has the SCI level, meaning that it is "secureCheshire compartmented information." That designation usually applies to surveillance information.

Then comes the Judicial money quote:

Judge McKeown: "I feel like I'm in Alice and Wonderland.".

This is the same Judge McKeown who had shown some skepticism about EFF's case earlier, so her exasperation here may be a good sign.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/15/183931/749

[DeSwiss]

1. "nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"

Dismiss the government's case.

K&R!!!

[bbgrunt]

2. we are definitely through the looking glass.

[sandnsea]

3. full speed ahead

Taking apart our individual rights, day after day. Was this on cable? I didn't notice, not even sure Olbermann had it on.

[EFerrari]

4. The 9th Circuit did not cave today.

:applause::applause::applause:

[BlooInBloo]

6. If only they were the SCOTUS, eh?

[EFerrari]

8. No kidding. I guess we'll find out just how big a whore Roberts is

if he's willing to undermine the Court in favor of the Unitary Idiot.

[KittyWampus]

13. The Unitary Idiot! LOL, what a great phrase to coin. Shall I attribute it to you?

it made me laugh.

:D

[EFerrari]

15. marnieworld calls him "President Fredo".

That's my favorite. lol

[glitch]

24. My favorite is still Mad Monkey King, to my shame I can't remember the DUer I heard it from. nt

[robinlynne]

26. unfortuantely, I think we know already.

[L. Coyote]

5. "the government attorney can't swear under oath that the Bush Administration isn't warrantlessly spy

[TahitiNut]

7. Yes, Cheney/Bush have taken us "Through The Looking Glass"

In effect, they're asserting that some fundamental human rights and the civil liberties in exercising them accrue not to People, but to the government itself despite the fact that government is the entity seen as the threat to such liberties in writing the Bill of Rights.

Got that? :eyes:

Let's try again. :crazy:

The Cheney/Bush regime refuses to divulge information (the 'logic' of the 5th Amendment) to the People which incriminates the government. The protections, however, are designed to prohibit government from forcing People to divulge information. It's the Constitution turned inside out - "Through The Looking Glass."

Thus, in wholesale violation of the People's rights, Cheney/Bush, like the pirates they are, illicitly and illogically claim entitlement to the very protections they refuse to honor as required by the Constitution.

It's government on crack! Brain-fried. :banghead: 'The People' against the people. :grr:

[Karenina]

21. We've been sucked down the rabbit hole for so long

maybe only a Dorothy/Alice/Xena coalition can lead us through!:rofl:

[loudsue]

25. I really liked the way you explained that, TN....

It makes me even madder than I already was.

:kick:

[TahitiNut]

9. "... it can no longer be a secret."

Petard. Hoist.

Is this not the very 'logic' claimed by the fascist right in the case of Valerie Plame?? Did they not claim that nobody could be prosecuted under the IIPA since the secrecy of her role was already blown (by them, of course)??

That's just more "looking glass" logic. :banghead:

[kpete]

11. the queen would be so proud

[TahitiNut]

14. Yep ... she had her rose garden, too.

"Off with their heads!"


:crazy:

[PRETZEL]

12. And from what I remember of Judge Bates' decision

that was one of the reasons why he felt the Plame's suit should be dismissed. If I remember correctly for them to have standing would have meant that either her cover was still secret or that the Wilson's would have to prove that others already have had their cover blown in order to prove that she had her cover blown.

[TahitiNut]

18. Appointed by Bush* in 2001 to the District Court, he was then appointed to the FISA Court in 2006

... no doubt due to his handling (dismissal) of Walker v. Cheney. It came as no surprise to me that he dismissed Plame v. Cheney, too.

His (specious) 'logic' was that anything ("no matter how unsavory") the administration does under the cover of "official duties" is immune from civil liability. It's the same "Through The Looking Glass" non-Euclidean 'logic' used by all the rabid neocons.

[lala_rawraw]

10. yep, me too

[Bake]

16. That's soooooooooo "pre-9/11"

Due Process, that is. Nice quaint little notion.

:sarcasm:

Bake

[Skidmore]

17. Well, Judge, smash the freaking Looking Glass. Smash it in to little bitty

pieces.

[Brigid]

19. 1984.

George Orwell was a prophet. He just got the date a little wrong. :scared:

[librechik]

20. my guess on the content of the secret docs:

"BUSH AND CHENEY DID (redact)/11! OH, AND STOLE BOTH (redacted)! HERE IS THE PROOF...
(redacted)

[eShirl]

22. WTF is "Alice and Wonderland" ?

stiil, that's not as bad as "Allison Wonderland"

[Quantess]

23. LOL. I guess it's been a long time since he read the book

or saw the cartoon.