Reach out and touch someone

Such was at one time an advertising slogan for AT&T… it seems an encouragement from a party-line ruling in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (i.e. 2 Republican appointed judges outvoting 1 Democratic appointed judge) in the NSA warrantless eavesdropping case, reversing the Michigan District Court’s ruling that the program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). [In some sense, though I am not a plaintiff, perhaps I should take this personally, given who I have called from time to time to interview… but I digress…]
On grounds eerily similar to the bogus reason used by the Supreme Court to deny the courthouse door to Jose Padilla (to wit, the government wouldn’t tell his lawyer where he was, so she brought a habeas corpus petition where she thought he was, and hence… “wrong venue”!), the 6th Circuit found that because the government wouldn’t tell those eavesdropped upon that they were eavesdropped on for sure… well, they lacked standing to sue! Even though they might be subject to eavesdropping before or again, or even may have been actually spied on by the government… since the government won’t tell them… the government wins!
Given that the Supreme Court felt it could overturn a century old antitrust precedent, campaign finance law nearly as old, and effectively eviscerate both Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education in only Sam Alito’s first full term on the Court… is it any wonder that the lower federal courts believe that it is open season on the Constitution? Because that’s what it is…
Executive overreach is the law of the land. If you don’t want the government eavesdropping on your communications… try telepathy… or whispering…