Admin. Appeals Ruling Against Patriot Act

Federal Judge Struck Down Secret Searches And Surveillance As Unconstitutional

(CBS/AP)  The Bush administration is appealing a ruling by a federal judge in Oregon who struck down key portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled last month the act cannot be used to authorize secret searches and wiretapping to gather criminal evidence - instead of intelligence gathering - without violating the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

The ruling came in a challenge to the act by Brandon Mayfield, a Portland lawyer whose home and office were secretly searched and bugged after the FBI misidentified a fingerprint in the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in 2004.

The FBI apologized to Mayfield for the mistake, and the federal government settled his lawsuit for $2 million.

But Mayfield challenged the Patriot Act over the searches and surveillance, winning a sharply worded ruling by Aiken.

"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."

Mayfield's attorney, Elden Rosenthal, said he had been notified of the appeal but had no further comment.

The Justice Department, in a statement released after the ruling, said: "We are concerned that if its reasoning were adopted and extended by other courts, it could have a significant impact on our ability to effectively share information in terrorism and other national security investigations."

Congress passed the Patriot Act with little debate shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to help counter terrorist activities. By amending the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA"), it gave federal law enforcers the authority to search telephone and e-mail communications and expanded the Treasury Department's regulation of financial transactions involving foreign nationals. The law was renewed in 2005.

The notice of appeal was filed Tuesday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeal came the same week that President Bush has personally advocated that provisions for warrantless wiretapping be expanded and made permanent.

Mr. Bush, speaking on the White House lawn on Wednesday, protested that a House bill authorizing conditions for the collection of intelligence was not as far-ranging as he requested. He claimed that seeking a judge's order to conduct surveillance, as demanded by the Constitution, would hamper the country's intelligence apparatus.

"Congress and the President have no higher responsibility than protecting the American people from enemies who attacked our country," he said.

Nonetheless, at the same appearance Mr. Bush said that he would veto the bill if it did not also grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who had participated in the government's warrantless wiretapping surveillance program which President Bush ordered in 2002. Telecoms are currently facing lawsuits over their tapping of U.S. citizens' phones and sharing of personal data.

The Senate is considering such immunity in their version of the FISA bill, but Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said this week that retroactive immunity is a "dealbreaker."

The Bush administration has sought to quash those suits, claiming national security secrets would be divulged at an open trial; the lawsuits, if successful, would also potentially open the door to criminal proceedings against government officials who authorized and ran the program. But most court rulings have so far favored plaintiffs and allowed the cases to move forward.

[zootallures2]

Where is Bush searching? In little boy''s pants with a pair of pliers?

Sicko... I think Moore had the right title but the wrong movie.

[cfin5]

This judge gets an "A" in Constitutional Law and understanding. The state motto "Live free or die" means "Living free to also die free" to meas freedom is security. They are going to have to find another way that is constitutional correct to ensure security. That will probably mean dropping politically correct theories to do so. What''s more important? Our national foundation (Literal interpretation) or someones theory of our national foundation (Allegorical interpretation)?

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief (Cheney) and his brain-dead puppet (George) turn their backs on 200 years of tradition and wipe their backsides with the U.S. Constitution. What treasonous disgusting pieces of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief (Cheney) and his puppet (George) turn their backs on 200 years of tradition and wipe their backsides with the U.S. Constitution. What disgusting pieces of dog ____.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief (Cheney) and his puppet (George) turn their backs on 200 years of tradition and wipe their backsides with the U.S. Constitution. What treasonous and disgusting pieces of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief (Cheney) and his puppet (George) turn their backs on 200 years of tradition and wipe their backsides with the U.S. Constitution. What treasonous and disgusting pieces of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief (Cheney) and his puppet (George) turn their backs on 200 years of tradition and wipe their backsides with the U.S. Constitution. What disgusting pieces of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of tradition and wipes his ___s with the U.S. Constitution. What a disgusting piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of traditions and wipes his butt with the U.S. Constitution, you know, the one he swore under oath to uphold. What a piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief turns his back on 200 years of traditions and wipes his butt with the U.S. Constitution, you know, the one he swore under oath to uphold. What a piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief wipes his butt with the U.S. Constitution, you know, the one he swore under oath to uphold. What a piece of dog ***.

[sftodd]

Once again, our pathetic traitor-in-chief wipes his butt with the U.S. Constitution, you know, the one he swore under oath to uphold. What a piece of dog ***.