YOO Wrote(Before Spy Story Broke)Why Patriot Act Is Constitutional.

[kpete]

Bush's torture and wiretapping architect says follow FISA
by dhonig
Mon Jan 09, 2006 at 01:03:36 PM PDT

This is just too rich. John C. Yoo, professor of law and architect of Bush's torture AND wiretapping justifications, wrote an article in "Inquiries," a publication of Hanover College (Indiana) that was obviously penned before the wiretapping story broke. In it, he explains why the Patriot Act is constitutional BECAUSE IT REQUIRES COMPLIANCE WITH FISA. Read below for more.

dhonig's diary :: ::


In "The Patriot Act Is Constitutional", Inquiries, Volume 6, Number 2, The Center for Free Inquiry, Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana, (http://cfi.hanover.edu) he wrote the following (heavily excerpted):

It is true that our nation has a system of secret courts, which use secret evidence presented in closed, classified hearings before federal judges to grant secret warrants. ...

FISA created the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), made up of federal trial judges drawn from around the country, which may issue warrants to conduct a search for foreign intelligence information. ...

FISA requires a standard of proof for a warrant that is generally lower than that required for a normal criminal warrant. ... In the FISA context, the government need only show that the target is an agent of a foreign power, even if there is no evidence at the time that the target is breaking the law. ...

FISA is the primary method by which the U.S. government conducts surveillance and searches of domestic targets suspected of involvement in international terrorism. No court has ever found FISA to be unconstitutional.

While the Patriot Act builds upon FISA, it creates no revolutionary change in the basic framework that has operated since 1978. ...

The Acts most controversial provisions adapt FISA to the modern challenges posed by al-Qaeda-style terrorism. ...

Much of the Patriot Act contains common-sense adjustment that modernize existing laws like FISA to meet this new threat. ... The Patriot Act enabled FISA warrants to allow for continuing surveillance of a terrorist target even if the terrorist suspect switches communication devices and methods. ...

The Patriot Act changed the warrant standard from "primary purpose" to "significant purpose" in order to eliminate the wall of separation between foreign threats and domestic crimes, and to allow law enforcement to be used as a weapon against terrorism. Civil libertarians would have us believe that this allows intelligence agents to roam freely through the country. Nothing could be further from the truth Under the law as it existed both before and after the Patriot Act, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is forbidden from carrying out intelligence activities within the United States. That Patriot Act did nothing to change that. The Patriot Act represents a modest retrenchment from an overcautious interpretation of FISA, but nothing like the practice of executing warrantless searches without judicial supervision, as occurred before 1978.

In fact, Section 215 offers more protection than was previously afforded under the old law. ... Section 215, unlike grand juries, requires prior review of the demand by a federal judge. The Patriot Act actually raises the procedural protections when the government demands such information.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/9/15336/16099