Judge rules part of Patriot Act unconstitutional

Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment."
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"For over 200 years, this Nation has adhered to the rule of law — with unparalleled success. A shift to a Nation based on extra-constitutional authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised," she wrote.

By asking her to dismiss Mayfield's lawsuit, the judge said, the U.S. attorney general's office was "asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. This court declines to do so."

Elden Rosenthal, an attorney for Mayfield, issued a statement on his behalf praising the judge, saying she "has upheld both the tradition of judicial independence, and our nation's most cherished principle of the right to be secure in one's own home."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20999950/


A brave judge who stands for law and order and not tyranny and dictatorship.

Now we should wait for usual cheerleaders squad to come up and call her anti-American and pro-terrorist.

 

This judge = hero.

 

We need more American heroes. People who take a stand on what America is really about. Life, liberty and rule of law.

 

I think that you might have noticed that the crazy gang (a.k.a cheerleaders) only reply to certain posts mate.

I myself have made a couple of great posts with not a single CG member even making a reply.

 

Are you saying that yellow belly group is even too scared for discussions in a forum?

 

I'm curious if the crew is going to admit we were right, or spout on about how this is a liberal activist judge trying to make Bush look bad, or whatever else they want to say to rationalize this.

 

They tend to ignore certain posts mate, let's put it that way.

 

I doubt she is a terrorist, but i have no doubt terrorists & their supporters love this type of thing, they hate the patriot act & the powers it gives to law enforcement as it makes terrorist operations harder to carry out, why do you think so many foreigners are bothered about the patriot act?

 

What a bad act this is. Hmmm...the lawyer gets to sue and win 2 million dollars and then continues to sue because his poor feelings were hurt. After all, that is why we need lawyers. WOW, I was going to enter the green card lottery but because of what happened to this lawyer I am now rethinking it. Imagine what an awful place US is. Someone enters my house, they arrest me, they release me because of a mistake. They pay me 2 million dollars and then I still go to court to prove my point.
I wonder why this guy accepted the 2mil if he was so concerned about this act. I say he is a hypocrite.

 

He went to court to fight the Constitutionality of the Law.

He's a freaking hero for fighting after he got the money. He's possibly saved a lot of other people from illegal searches, wrongful imprisonment and harassment. You know, all of that good stuff in the Patriot Act that protects from Osama Boogeyman.

 

So they gave him money to sue them...cool.

 

Law Enforcement can never, under any circumstances undermine the rule of law, the constitution. This is backwards thinking that the people have to surrender rights and freedoms in order to be safe. Safety should never come at the cost of personal liberty.

 

How much money did he get again? I see no mention of that in your post. He got 2 million dollars. What can I say, he did a lot for the long bearded duds. And no, I am not referring to the Jews. I am referring to the followers of the religion of peace.

 

One more very useful tool to fight the bad guys is taken away.

It's a good thing that the bad guys have liberals to protect their rights--and their illicit activities.

If you are not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the Patriot Act. It doesn't allow the government to monitor innocent Americans. They can only monitor those who are communicating with the bad guys.

 

There has been no proof that the Patriot Act has stopped a single terrorist plot, or lead to the arrest of any terrorists.

Yeah, it's a good thing we have the liberals to do this. In the old days, the conservatives were the ones who fought to protect the Constitution, which is the foundation of the Republic.

Obviously you didn't even read the article, because this guy was not doing anything illegal, and they arrested him, searched his property and records without any proper reason.

He was innocent, and he was monitored. You are very, very wrong. And the Judge is very, very right.

 

Yeah it couldn't have anything to do with actual Patriotic Americans hating the fact that the Patriot Act goes against much of what this country was founded on

False patriots have no problem giving up righs for 'safety' true patriots take the extra risk to keep the US the way it was meant to be.

Liberals hey, or how about those who give a shit about the US constitution? According to your logic though we might as well toss out the US constitution

 

Why does the money matter? The issue here is that he was treated wrongly, and even after settling with the FBI, he made sure the door was open to make sure illegal Acts like this can be disputed.

He did nothing for the long bearded duds. He did a lot for duds like you who don't understand the sacrifices people have made to give you a free Republic or what that Republic is based on.

I'll never understand why people such as you, need to hide behind these misused laws to feel safe from Bin Laden. I like to think that Americans have the courage to stand up to their enemy, not to surrender their welfare and liberty to the state.

What a fraaked up country where the ignorant goobers think the Constitution is a Liberal document. I'm not sure if that's a function of being inbred, or just plain dumb.

 

I did read the article and it appears that they did everything right based upon the evidence at hand. They did have good reason to search his property. Unfortunately, someone screwed up and misread the evidence. The basis for the search was therefore not legitimate. THAT was why the judge ruled as she did.

This really has little to do with the Patriot Act directly. The same thing would have happened without it. They made a mistake and officially apologized, and the guy got $2 million in the process.

The root of the issue is that you cannot keep taking away law enforcement tools and then complain when they cannot prevent an attack due to lack of intelligence information. Some people seem to think that we are somehow safer when law enforcement people are shackled and locked in a dark room. Yeah, they sometimes screw up, but those are very rare and isolated cases.

There are multiple interpretations of the Constitution. There is the conservative view, which looks at it traditionally in the manner in which it was written and intended. There is also a liberal view, which believes it is something whose interpretations eover time to fit the evolving liberal viewpoint.

 

That's right, however so is my earlier point.

I don't think terrorists will be upset with the US become more impotent to deal with them either.

Basically there are two different sides wanting the same thing for different reasons, that's my point

 

No one want to allow the government to abuse people's rights, but there is a big difference between intentional abuse and accidental abuse. This is clearly a case of accidental abuse.