The NSA Has Pissed Off the Entire World—Will the Supreme Court Intervene?

[marmar]

from truthdig:



By Bill Blum

The National Security Agency has pissed off the world, and the world is fighting back.

From the demonstrators who gathered on Capitol Hill on Oct. 26 to German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has dispatched a high-level protest delegation to the White House to the bipartisan group of senators and representatives who have introduced the USA Freedom Act to revamp the NSA, a global movement is gathering to stop the spy agency’s abuses.

For better or worse, the Supreme Court is also being asked—yet again—to join the fight. Last term, the court dismissed a lawsuit filed against the NSA by Amnesty International and other organizations over the alleged interception of emails, reasoning that none of the plaintiffs could prove their emails in fact had been seized and, therefore, that none had suffered the actual legal harm needed to satisfy the court’s strained definition of the “standing” required to prosecute a federal case (Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l).

In the coming weeks, in a vitally important and highly innovative case that has received surprisingly little media attention, the court will rule on the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss a new petition filed by the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, which seeks to halt the NSA’s practice of collecting telephone activity records—the so-called metadata showing the numbers dialed, together with the dates and duration of calls—for virtually every American who uses a phone. Given the incredibly broad sweep of the metadata program, a substantive court ruling could have a lasting impact not only on the NSA’s future as a covert agency but on the future of privacy protections worldwide. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_nsa_has_pissed_off_the_entire_world_will_the_supreme_court_intervene_20

[RC]

1. The United States does more to fuel and ferment terror around the world than the NSA has ever done

to expose and stop terror.

[OnyxCollie]

2. Not likely.

Supreme Court Lets Stand Telecom Immunity In Wiretap Case
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=260709
Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is leaving in place a federal law that gives telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government with its email and telephone eavesdropping program.

The justices said Tuesday they will not review a court ruling that upheld the 2008 law against challenges brought by privacy and civil liberties advocates on behalf of the companies' customers. The companies include AT&T, Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.

Lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation accused the companies of violating the law and customers' privacy through collaboration with the National Security Agency on intelligence gathering.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPREME_COURT_WARRANTLESS_WIRETAPPING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-09-09-58-20

...
We can't even get four "liberal" justices to agree to hear the case. How can we expect them to change it?

[jsr]

3. You mean the folks who apppoint FISA