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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDid you know John Roberts is also chief justice of the NSA’s surveillance state?
John Roberts is essentially the Czar of Surveillance. For life.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/05/did-you-know-john-roberts-is-also-chief-justice-of-the-nsas-surveillance-state/
Chief justice of the United States is a pretty big job. You lead the Supreme Court conferences where cases are discussed and voted on. You preside over oral arguments. When in the majority, you decide who writes the opinion. You get a cool robe that you can decorate with awesome gold stripes.
Oh, and one more thing: You have exclusive, unaccountable, lifetime power to shape the surveillance state.
To use its surveillance powers tapping phones or reading e-mails the federal government must ask permission of the court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A FISA judge can deny the request or force the government to limit the scope of its investigation. Its the only plausible check in the system. Whether it actually checks government surveillance power or acts as a rubber stamp is up to whichever FISA judge presides that day.
The 11 FISA judges, chosen from throughout the federal bench for seven-year terms, are all appointed by the chief justice. In fact, every FISA judge currently serving was appointed by Roberts, who will continue making such appointments until he retires or dies. FISA judges dont need confirmation by Congress or anyone else.
No other part of U.S. law works this way. The chief justice cant choose the judges who rule on health law, or preside over labor cases, or decide software patents. But when it comes to surveillance, the composition of the bench is entirely in his hands, and, as a result, so is the extent to which the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation can spy on citizens.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Those hair on fire conspiracy theorists who say this kind of stuff needs to be exposed and pulled out by the roots should be the very first to go into the camps!
They would endanger the Awesomeness. In a democracy, that's something we just can't afford.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)because Democracy is so 20 years ago.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Besides being appointed to also serve on the FISA court, they are cleared to handle classified information.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)What a relief.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)While it is true that the Senate does not confirm their appointement to the FISA court, the Senate has confirmed them to the District Courts.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)KG
(28,752 posts)former9thward
(32,077 posts)Yes the Chief Justice appoints the judges but it is the President than makes surveillance requests to the court. Without those requests the judges would have nothing to do. The FISA court was set up by President Carter in 1978 and every president since then has used it.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Perhaps the NLA?
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)indeed, the process should be transparent and democratic according to founding principles.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)The NLA?
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)Ernesto
(5,077 posts)Does John Roberts have any teeth?
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)hue
(4,949 posts)suffragette
(12,232 posts)marble falls
(57,204 posts)MineralMan
(146,329 posts)That's how the system is set up.
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)hue
(4,949 posts)SpankMe
(2,966 posts)As an Australian trying to understand the US political system, it seems that a judge appointed for life by a President who obtained less than 50% of the national vote, and confirmed by a body wherein California with 30 million people gets 2 votes (the same as Montana with what? 3 million?) can appoint the judges to the FISA Court but a President elected by a clear majority of voters in the country cannot appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
What is wrong with this picture in the context of the world's greatest democracy?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/05/did-you-know-john-roberts-is-also-chief-justice-of-the-nsas-surveillance-state/?commentID=washingtonpost.com/ECHO/item/1373123057-243-756
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)Just when you think things couldn't possibly get worse, they do .
Dayam. Where did America go?
eShirl
(18,503 posts)Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)how it sometimes starts an avalanche. Cascade failure.