Let's Be Clear, say Legal Experts, What NSA Is Doing Is 'Criminal'

[arely staircase]

65. thanks for that info.

like I said I don't like secret courts, but can at least understand the argument for them in the case of issuing certain warrants - though I think a criminal defendant's attorneis should later be able to challenge them - meaning access to what they were based upon.

I think the collection of metadata on everyone is an overreach, but could possibly be convinced it was ok, if the only way to access it is with a separate warrant and there were absolute safeguards against it without one. This 72 hours of do what you want doesn't pass the smell test to me. That seems like a clear 4th amendment violation. I would like to hear the other side of it though. But it just seems to me that if you have Ahmed the courier's number calling some US phone, can't you wake up a FISA judge in the middle of the night? Get down there and show him that and get a separate warrant? Why does that take three days? Hell local cops can wake up the stae district judge and get a warrant for a suspected meth lab in the middle of the night.