General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: BREAKING: Federal judge rules NSA data gathering on all US telephone calls is unconstitutional [View all]ConservativeDemocrat
(2,720 posts)...illegal prosecutorial withholding of exculpatory evidence. NOT this fantasy of tracking the phone calls of defense attorneys.
(By the way, I know this because a direct friend of mine was subject to this abuse, and spent two years in jail before being released because the prosecutor withheld several pieces of crucial exculpatory evidence.)
What's the kicker in all this? About the only way that defense attorneys can fight this sort of stuff is to subpoena phone records of the corrupt prosecutors - a capability you would like to see go away, it sounds like.
Again, what I'm talking about are actual things that have happened. Not nightmares of what might possibly happen in some grand conspiracy theory fever dream that the NSA, FBI, CIA, and Prosecutors offices all decide to break the law. The only way a defense attorney could have his phone-records searched without warrant (not merely saved, but searched), is if they were calling internationally (where there is a reasonable expectation they are speaking to a foreigner), or because of a Court-issued subpoena.
You keep coming back to saying that the "NSA is clearly violating a number of constitutional rights", but again, the Constitution does not work that way. And furthermore it shouldn't: the first thing any criminal needs, be it drug dealer, or corrupt cop, is "privacy" so other people can't see what they've done. This is the reason why police absolutely hate to be photographed, and are trying to use the very "privacy" laws you think the Constitution demands, to stop it. There is good reason to believe that one of the reasons for the dramatic drop in crime over the last 30 years is the increase in private security cameras - that show indisputably what really happened. And frankly, that's what we need more of, not less of.
- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community