It was exactly nine years ago yesterday, December 16, 2005, when the New York Times revealed that George W. Bush had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying.
As we've learned since then (thanks mostly to Edward Snowden), the surveillance begun under President Bush has only escalated under President Obama and hasn't slowed down at all, despite concerns from civil libertarians, members of Congress, world leaders and others.
But that may end now. Yesterday a federal judge ruled that the NSA's daily collection of virtually all Americans’ phone records is almost certainly unconstitutional.
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval,” said Richard Leon, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."
This is the first time a judge has ruled against the NSA in their surveillance campaign. Then again, it hasn't exactly been a fair legal fight, has it? The previous courts who have ruled in favor of the NSA (the FISA court) have only had to hear the government's side of those cases.
By the way, the ruling comes the day after CBS' 60 Minutes lost some more credibility as our finest news program, giving NSA officials a broad platform to tell "their side" of the story, in a report that has been maligned by national security reporters from across the country.
In other news: The Tampa Bay Times this morning endorsed Kathleen Peters in the CD13 Republican race for Congress that takes place next month. The endorsement comes after a Washington political website reported that Peters and her husband were late in paying their taxes 10 times in 15 years. But what caught our attention to the story was the comment made by Peters' spokesperson.
And a second report on what would happen if the transit agencies of Hillsborough County (HART) and Pinellas County (PSTA) were to merge is being prepared right now, bringing out familiar criticisms and concerns from HART board members who think the whole idea is a big mistake.
