Jacob Sullum of Reason writes: The lead story in today’sNew York Times suggests that Chief Justice John Roberts has been stacking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) with government-friendly conservatives. Charlie Savage reports that “86 percent of his choices have been Republican appointees, and 50 percent have been former executive branch officials.” The corresponding figures for Roberts’ two…
Category: U.S.
Six Ways Congress May Reform NSA Snooping
by Kara Brandeisky ProPublica, July 25, 2013, 4:39 p.m. Although the House defeated a measure that would have defunded the bulk phone metadata collection program, the narrow 205-217 vote showed that there is significant support in Congress to reform NSA surveillance programs. Here are six other legislative proposals on the table. 1) Raise the standard…
Spy Agencies Under Heaviest Scrutiny Since Abuse Scandal of the ’70s
Scott Shane reports: American intelligence agencies, which experienced a boom in financing and public support in the decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, have entered a period of broad public scrutiny and skepticism with few precedents since the exposure of spying secrets and abuses led to the historic investigation by the Senate’s Church Committee…
Feds Receive Lashing From Judge in Challenge to NSA Spy Program
Nick Divito reports: The Justice Department lost its bid Thursday to delay the ACLU challenge to the National Security Agency’s data-collecting program as a federal judge reminded government lawyers they were in a courtroom not a marketplace. “This is not a bazaar, it’s a courtroom,” the peeved U.S. District Judge William Pauley said before dismissing…