The Discerning Texan

What's it all about? In one sentence, it comes down to this:

Does the United States Government have the right to conduct secret surveillance of terrorism suspects on American soil?

But the case has become rather more complicated than that. Before we get to the action of August 15, here's the gist of the case in a few short paragraphs, cutting through everyone's double-talk on both sides, and granting everyone's allegations to be true:

A Saudi charity known to finance terrorist activities opened a branch in Oregon. The US government tapped the phones of the Oregon branch and heard evidence that they were helping to finance terrorist activities as well. With this info in hand, the government designated the Oregon branch as terrorists, and froze their assets. The Oregon branch, unaware that they had been sureveilled and that the government had solid evidence against them, challenged this, and during legal proceedings, a government employee accidentally gave logs of the tapped phone conversations to the charity's lawyers.

At that point, the case changed gears: the charity hooked up with liberal lawyers to challenge the very legality of the surveillance, and by extension the legality of all secret surveillance. The decision was made to make the trial into a test case designed to weaken and embarrass the Bush administration. The government sought to circumvent this strategy by suppressing the evidence of the leaked document on grounds that its exposure would endanger national security. The governement requested back and eventually obtained all U.S. copies of the surveillance logs -- but not before an unknown number of copies made their way overseas, presumably into hostile hands. Aside from revealing the fact that the charity was surveilled, it is not clear what "operational details" the leaked document reveals. The government refuses to admit to the wiretapping or to say whether or not a warrant was obtained.

The entire case, as it is now being litigated, hinges on the question: do the plaintiffs even have the legal right to sue the government? In order to prove they have "standing," they must prove they were surveilled; and so must refer to the only evidence which proves this, the mysterious document. The government claims the document is Top Secret, and thus not admissable evidence. It is this question that was being argued before the Ninth Circuit Court on August 15.

That's where things stand at the time of this writing. And even if you knew nothing more about the specifics of the case, deciding which side you favor is almost necessarily dependent on your political philosophy. Even granting the allegation that the surveillance was done without a warrant, there are many who argue that the government would be abdicating its duty to protect its citizens if it did not monitor known terror suspects, warrant or no warrant. But does the "slippery slope" argument apply here: if we allow warrantless surveillance of terror suspects, are we to assume that the government will eventually abuse this power to harrass non-terrorists for politcal reasons (which is obviously what many on the left fear)?

Labels: 9th Circuit, Islamic Fascism, Judicial, NSA Surveillance, Travesty of Justice