for secrecy. Bravo to all who helped tell Snowden's story. They helped expose a matter of critical national importance. The US spying on its own citizens. People with no criminal record or suspicion of criminal activity. Massive, unwarranted, unchecked surveillance via the internet and phone conversations. On everyday people like you and me. An egregious widespread invasion of privacy.
It raises a critical Fourth Amendment issue. The government may not conduct searches or intrusions of privacy without clear demonstration of sufficient probable cause of criminal activity. The warrant must be signed by a judge. In the case of the NSA surveillance that Snowden exposed, the spying was conducted without warrants, without probable cause, on our own citizens. It was hidden from our view. It did not undergo the checks and balances we associate with a democratic society that follows rule of law.
It also raises a First Amendment issue. In the famous New York Times case, the US Justice Department sought to prevent publication of the Pentagon Papers. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment bars the government from using prior restraint to prevent publication of government documents unless there is a provable immediate danger to national security that would justify the prior restraint. You're correct, the Court determined that the government failed to prove its case that the publication would cause a grave threat to anyone anywhere. It ruled that the people's right to know outweighed the government's case for secrecy. That led to the New York Times and the Washington Post immediately publishing the Pentagon Papers in the respective newspapers and in paperback books. The government continued pursuing a case against Daniel Ellsberg. A judge threw out the case when it was discovered that Nixon's plumbers broke into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office looking for dirt on him. Nixon's staff set up the plumbers to plug leaks to the press. That infamous group then used its secret fund to break in to the the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, leading to the fall of a Presidency.
As you point out, the Bush Administration engaged in criminal activities that it tried to cover up, regarding overzealous spying on our own people. The government should drop all charges against Snowden. It should stop trying to smear him and the people who helped him expose governmental spying on average citizens.
Congress should repeal all aspects of warrantless spying on anyone without probable cause that they are committing crimes. Liberals and conservatives alike can agree that post 9/11, the government went too far in warrantless spying on its own citizens. It must stop. We must get our privacy back. We must be free to communicate with each other without fear of unreasonable government intrusion.
= new reply since forum marked as read
