EFF Wins Federal Court Case Against National Security Letters: FBI Stopped!
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We defeated national security letters!
National Security Letters Are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules
This press release posted at EFF March 15 2013
San Francisco – A federal district court judge in San Francisco has ruled that National Security Letter (NSL) provisions in federal law violate the Constitution. The decision came in a lawsuit challenging a NSL on behalf of an unnamed telecommunications company represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
In the ruling publicly released today, Judge Susan Illston ordered that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stop issuing NSLs and cease enforcing the gag provision in this or any other case. The landmark ruling is stayed for 90 days to allow the government to appeal.
“We are very pleased that the court recognized the fatal constitutional shortcomings of the NSL statute,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. “The government’s gags have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools. Our client looks forward to the day when it can publicly discuss its experience.”
The controversial NSL provisions EFF challenged on behalf of the unnamed client allow the FBI to issue administrative letters — on its own authority and without court approval — to telecommunications companies demanding information about their customers. The controversial provisions also permit the FBI to permanently gag service providers from revealing anything about the NSLs, including the fact that a demand was made, which prevents providers from notifying either their customers or the public. The limited judicial review provisions essentially write the courts out of the process.
In today’s ruling, the court held that the gag order provisions of the statute violate the First Amendment and that the review procedures violate separation of powers. Because those provisions were not separable from the rest of the statute, the court declared the entire statute unconstitutional. In addressing the concerns of the service provider, the court noted: “Petitioner was adamant about its desire to speak publicly about the fact that it received the NSL at issue to further inform the ongoing public debate.”
“The First Amendment prevents the government from silencing people and stopping them from criticizing its use of executive surveillance power,” said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. “The NSL statute has long been a concern of many Americans, and this small step should help restore balance between liberty and security.”
(snip) Please read entire article, with links for resource materials, at EFF’s site. If you donate, let ‘em know you heard about this over at Oath Keepers, eh? Thank you.
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https://supporters.eff.org/donate/nsl
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March 19th, 2013 at 5:57 am
Mr. Rhodes goes to Washington! My new vision. We the people need legal representation against the illegal powers to be and call them out, challenge them in courts. They can’t be immune to that. Tie up the Supreme courts across the land and nullify and void everything unconstitutional back to the beginning 1800’s in banking, rather talk about it, do it. Obama made a comment before, “can you image what it would be like today without social security, socialism? Yes, I can, more people made to be accountable for their own lives rather than create dead weight on society and take from my table, savings, retirement that I struggle to obtain. I stated before on this site in mid 1970’s a man in Houston, a historian filed a lawsuit against the USA gov’t over the communism taking place here. We need an attorney to lead other to PUSH BACK! I trust this site as a place to donate funds for that cause also. Be sure to put Agenda 21 in the lawsuits also plus Agenda 21 depopulation billboards around America. That will surely wake up people to investigate and when they do Mr. Rhodes will have his backing. LET THE HISTORY BOOKS SHOW WE THE PEOPLE ARE HERE TO STAY! MR. RHODES YOU HAVE ALREADY EARNED YOUR PLACE IN OUR HISTORY BOOKS, NOW GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO READ ABOUT AND TALK ABOUT FOR FOREVER!
March 19th, 2013 at 6:16 am
My after thought here is that we know we are dealing with killers as such. We also need to be prepared to have around the clock security for Mr. Rhodes or the attorney who chooses to represent the people and tie up the courts in Washington and that cost money plus which includes the attorneys fees and living costs. Time to take the bull by his horns.
Also I talked to a coin dealer yesterday, he mentioned along with bullions it is good to buy money from 1964 backwards as it has silver and people know what that it is. He also said keep in mind if you have bullion and it will buy a head of lettuce as well as a quarter, but no change back so to also have smaller silver to trade when the hijacked gov’t comes down on the people. After Cyprus may want to stop automatic deposits also and start cashing your checks. Time to think with the care our elders had 100 years ago.
March 20th, 2013 at 6:56 am
While this is a victory, I fear it will be short lived as they are set to bring online the UTAH based surveillance and storage facility which will negate the need for NSL to telecomms.
March 23rd, 2013 at 8:19 pm
My eyes are wide open and I realize what is going on. I have no military background; a citizen of the once great country. I am on Social Security and that is my only income. I will do whatever I can; I only wish I could donate money for this. Please let me know what I can do and keep me posted.
In Liberty,
Susan