When financing the NSA, Congress is violating the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... freedom of speech ...
"Heidi Boghosian of the National Lawyers Guild testified: "Revelations of NSA surveillance in the press has caused NLG members working on litigation and advocacy to restrict discussion of legal strategy, case updates and confidential information to in-person meetings or to written correspondence sent by mail. Practical restraints on the frequency of these meetings results-in less robust information to pass between attorneys and has potentially hindered Guild members from providing as vigorous a legal representation as would have otherwise been possible with secure electronic communication channels."
"Dinah PoKempner for Human Rights Watch said: "While it is difficult to get precise information about communications that did not occur, based on the concerns raised by others, I believe that some individuals may have refrained from reporting human rights abuses to us and some partners may have refrained from contacting us due to their concerns about security and confidentiality."
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"Several organizations said that they have received markedly fewer hotline calls after Snowden's revelation.
"Acorn Active Media, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, Calguns Foundation, Charity & Security Network, Franklin Armory, Free Press, Free Software Foundation, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, Greenpeace, Media Alliance, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, People for the American Way, Public Knowledge, Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, TechFreedom, and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee also filed declarations regarding the chilling effect knowledge of NSA surveillance has had on their members' exercise of free speech.
"Section 215 is a simple statute designed to give the FBI something like the subpoena power available in criminal investigations," attorney Thomas Moore, an EFF special counsel, said in a statement. "It was not intended to authorize the dragnet surveillance the NSA has undertaken. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people should not be spying on the people."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/11/07/62757.htm
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