Justice Dept to Notify Defendants on Surveillance

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON November 15, 2013 (AP)

The Justice Department said Friday it will notify criminal defendants when the government has used evidence against them that was gathered through warrantless surveillance programs.

The department is undertaking a comprehensive review to turn up all cases in which such notifications need to be made, said department spokesman Brian Fallon. Attorney General Eric Holder first disclosed the review in an interview with The Washington Post.

The notifications will set the stage for a likely Supreme Court test of the Obama administration's approach to national security, which uses the National Security Agency's technical capabilities to gather phone and Internet data.

The high court so far has turned aside challenges to the law on government surveillance on the grounds that people who bring such lawsuits have no evidence they are being targeted.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/justice-dept-notify-defendants-surveillance-20906017

[Xipe Totec]

1. Nicely done. nt

[OnyxCollie]

2. Big fucking deal.

If the evidence that was collected without warrant is still valid, it overrules the Fourth Amendment.

[randome]

4. Not necessarily. The NSA's job is to monitor foreign communications.

If, in the course of that monitoring, they turn up evidence of a crime, that is not a warrantless 'search' anymore than it is when a police officer steps into a crack den and discovers a murder.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[Demeter]

3. This ought to be interesting

and a total mess.

[bemildred]

5. Yes, I think that must be the point.

I predict panic and outrage, and then attempts to stop it.

[snot]

6. Who's overseeing THAT process?

How will anyone know if DoJ fails to notify someone?

[randome]

7. How would you EVER know?

I'm sure somebody, somewhere is violating a law or a regulation without our being aware of it right now.

You can have some other organization go into the DOJ and tear it apart to get all the paperwork it contains but how would you then know if THAT organization is to be trusted? Or that the DOJ kept paperwork on a subject in the first place?

There has to come a point when we stop worrying about what MIGHT be happening somewhere.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[snot]

8. Ahem, all that's needed is that idea the Founding Fathers liked so much,

called "checks and balances." I.e., you don't ask the foxes to police themselves; you give the chickens power over the foxes.