Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act

Cthippo · 6 Sep 2007

Associated Press said:

NEW YORK - A federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act on Thursday, saying investigators must have a court's approval before they can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers."

The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law, complaining that it allowed the FBI to demand records without the kind of court order required for other government searches.

The ACLU said it was improper to issue so-called national security letters, or NSLs — investigative tools used by the FBI to compel businesses to turn over customer information — without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena. Examples of such businesses include Internet service providers, telephone companies and public libraries.

Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said prosecutors had no immediate comment.

Jameel Jaffer, who argued the case for the ACLU, said the revised law had wrongly given the FBI sweeping authority to control speech because the agency was allowed to decide on its own — without court review — whether a company receiving an NSL had to remain silent or whether it could reveal to its customers that it was turning over records.

In 2004, ruling on the initial version of the Patriot Act, the judge said the letters violate the Constitution because they amounted to unreasonable search and seizure. He found that the nondisclosure requirement — under which an Internet service provider, for instance, would not be allowed to tell customers that it was turning over their records to the government — violated free speech.

After he ruled, Congress revised the Patriot Act in 2005, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed that Marrero review the law's constitutionality a second time.

The ACLU complained that Congress' revision of the law didn't go far enough to protect people because the government could still order companies to turn over their records and remain silent about it, if the FBI determined that the case involved national security.

The law was written "reflects an attempt by Congress and the executive to infringe upon the judiciary's designated role under the Constitution," Marrero wrote.
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Original story

Sanity may slowly be returning

Gooey_GUI · 6 Sep 2007

Judge strikes down part of Patriot Act

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A provision of the Patriot Act that requires people who are formally contacted by the FBI for information to keep it a secret is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero sided with the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit and argued that an FBI letter requesting information -- called a National Security Letter -- is effectively a gag order but without the authorization of a judge.

The FBI tells people who receive the letters to keep them secret, but recipients can challenge the secrecy order in court under a 2006 congressional amendment to the NSL law.

The law says judges must defer to the FBI's view that secrecy is necessary, undermining the judiciary's check on the power of the executive branch, the ACLU said.

In a written ruling issued on Thursday, Marrero said the gag order violated the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and was unconstitutional.

Marrero based his ruling on the seriousness of the potential intrusion on privacy and on "the significant possibility of a chilling effect on speech and association -- particularly of expression that is critical of the government or its policies."

The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan is considering an appeal, a spokeswoman said.

Government lawyers had argued that the FBI's need to ensure that targets remained unaware of an investigation outweighed the free speech rights of NSL recipients.

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of an unidentified Internet access company that received an NSL.

The company filed suit in April 2004. In September 2004 Marrero found the NSL gag violated free speech rights and struck it down as unconstitutional.

The government appealed the ruling, but Congress amended the NSL provision in its reauthorization of the Patriot Act last year before an appeals court could hear the case.

The revised NSL provision -- allowing the gag to be challenged in court -- was then sent back to Marrero.

APPEAL EXPECTED

The FBI dropped its demand for information from the Internet company a year ago, but the gag remained in place.

"The decision reaffirms that the courts have an important and constitutionally mandated role to play when national security policies infringe on First Amendment rights," said Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU lawyer who argued the case.

Marrero prohibited the Justice Department and the FBI from issuing NSLs but delayed enforcement for 90 days pending an expected appeal by the government or congressional action.

The ACLU says more than 143,000 NSLs were issued between 2003 and 2005.
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Instead of ask - don't tell, where the agents do the asking, it has now become ask and please don't tell.

If the ruling stands that is.

Cthippo · 6 Sep 2007

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=139040 Little late there

cpemma · 6 Sep 2007

"The company filed suit in April 2004". Microsoft aren't the only ones who can use delaying tactics. "The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan is considering an appeal, a spokeswoman said."

(Threads merged)

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