Since the AG has bits in his written statement about National Security Letters, it's o.k. to report another abuse of authority.
"My National Security Gag Letter" - a story about how this works
ANOTHER GIVEN-AN-INCH, TAKEN-A-YARD ABUSE OF AUTHORITY
Where the issue stands, from the ACLU. (Their backgrounder)
Congress wouldn't have changed things if enough folks didn't think there might be some merit to looking at records.
It's not clear to me whether people with these gag orders cannot talk out in general against gag orders, or if they simply cannot talk about whether they received an order or the contents of what was sought.
DOJ DRAGS OUT OPPOSITION, BUT THEN DROPS IT AFTER LEGISLATIVE EVENT
I knew about the Librarians who had opposed this, but I didn't realize how politicized their case was (new video: Discussion on the USA Patriot Act and Libraries). Apparently, shortly after the Patriot Act was renewed, the Justice Department dropped the gag order by withdrawing its support of it. That kind of timing clearly smacks of politicization of Justice, to me.
Anyway, as the librarians tell it, the assymetry of having the opposition under gag didn't stop supporters from editorializing that the Act was 'without significant opposition'.
Along the way, the government mistakenly failed to redact the names in their suit against the government, putting them in the gruesome circumstance of being known opponents but unable to talk aloud about it on their own behalf.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
My National Security Gag Letter
