老澳门开奖结果

Today we received an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Sometimes, brevity can be really beautiful. The court wrote:

The 老澳门开奖结果 has filed a third party motion seeking the release of what it identifies as Court records. This is an unprecedented request that warrants further briefing.

The order was in response to a motion we filed ten days ago, which as far as we know was the first of its kind. We asked the FISC to release several important legal rulings issued secretly over the last year. These secret orders have been in the spotlight lately: One led to the disastrous FISA revision Congress passed last week, and another, issued January 10, reportedly brought the government鈥檚 illegal spying program under the supervision of the secret FISA court.

While they didn鈥檛 just fax over the orders we requested 鈥� they gave the government until August 31 to object to the disclosure 鈥搃t is an important indicator that the FISC is taking our request seriously. If the public could see those orders, it would clarify how the NSA program was adapted to comply with FISA鈥檚 requirement that the government seek individual warrants, since Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) has described the orders as .

Here鈥檚 what we already know about the orders: After contending since 2005 that NSA wiretapping did not require warrants, the White House reversed itself on January 17, 2007, when Alberto Gonzales announced that 鈥渁ny surveillance that was occurring as part of the [NSA Program would] now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.鈥� Gonzales as 鈥渃omplex鈥� and 鈥渋nnovative鈥� and later testified that the court issued them after Bush 鈥減ushed the envelope.鈥� He told Congress that it took 鈥渟ome time for a judge to get comfortable鈥� with the government鈥檚 proposal.

Since then, everyone and their mother 鈥� from the House Minority Leader, to the AG, to the President - have cited the orders in their attempts to strong arm FISA "reform" through Congress. Of course they did so knowing full well that it鈥檚 impossible for anyone to contradict them when they can鈥檛 see what they鈥檙e talking about.

Today's orders were a good sign. Hopefully the court will release the sealed materials and the debate won鈥檛 have to take place in a vacuum any longer.