JUDGE OK PUBLIC HEARING ON FORCE-FEEDING
“…Openness … enhances … the basic fairness of … trial … essential to public confidence in the system…”
Apparently, Judge rejects Obama’s argument that keeping torture secret enhances national security.
Dhiab v. Obama
__________
NO MORE ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE
NSA has a search engine for goverment agencies to access foreign and domestic digital records in the clouds.
This is worse than “1984“.
NSA Authority
Memo Re Sharing Metadata
ICReach PPT
__________
RE-EXAMINE SHELBY v. HOLDER FOR FERGUSON
“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”, Justice Ginsberg dissenting.
Current Robert’s Supreme Court has underminded the Civil Rights Act by annuling mandatory preclearnace for any voting changes by certain Southern States known for discrimination.
(Shelby v. Holder)(5:4)
__________
SNOWDEN, A YEAR LATER
Still wholesome, good-natured and low-keyed
We owe a great deal to Snowden for making the world aware of the illegal and unwarranted government intrusion on privacy under the pretext of national security, but joint efforts are needed to rectify such government wrongdoing.
__________
LIBERTY, PRIVACY & SECURITY
Snowden debunks US government’s abuse and definace to the rule of law through a secret court (FISC) and a secret 5-Eye Alliance in the name of national security.
“I will not be the one to ignore criminality for the sake of political comfort. I would rather be without a state than without a voice.”
Secrecy breeds abuse and corruption.
__________
BLACKLISTING BY FEDERAL OCTOPUS
NSA has 18 arms and 19 eyes, compared to 8 arms and 2 eyes of a natural octopus, making every person on earth a prey as desired without any due process.
The Guidance must have been a joint product of 19 federal agencies, making the definitions of “terrorist” and “terrorism” overbroad and overreaching that can virtually apply to any wrongdoing harmful to financial institutions or government policies, without notice or hearing.
(2013 Watchlisting Guidance)
__________
NO-FLY LIST PROCESS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
“[I]nternational travel is not a mere convenience or luxury in this modern world. Indeed, for many, international travel is a necessary aspect of liberties sacred to members of a free society.”-Federal District Judge Anna J. Brown
(Ayman Latif et al. v. Eric Holder, US AG, et al.)
__________
EVEN FEINSTEIN IS FED UP
Feinstein condemned CIA as “the horrible details of a CIA program that never, never, never should have existed”, after her own Committee’s computers were hacked by CIA to prevent congressional oversight of CIA’s torture program.
Apparently, CIA treats everyone equal, notwithstanding Feinstein’s decades long efforts working with CIA to justify CIA’s subversion programs.
__________
AEREO VIOLATES COPYRIGHTS
The service provided by Aereo was “not simply an equipment provider”, but a cable system re-transmitting copyrighted materials for a fee.
(ABC et al. v. Aereo)
This is inconsistent with prior ruling that there is no privacy in cloud communications, if intercepted during transmission. This ruling is also near-sighted and ignorant, because ABC can encrypt their signals without the need of choking technolgy innovation.
__________
SENATE CAN BLOCK RECESS APPOINTMENTS
US Senate can use pro forma sessions to block Obama’s recess appointments requiring Senate confirmations, unless such recess appointments are made at least 10 days after Senate recess.
The Supreme Court broadened the circuit court ruling, and held that such vacancies need not arise during the Senate recess.
(NLRB v. Canning et al.)
__________
SUPREME COURT AND CONTRACEPTIVE
“Our decision in these cases is concerned solely with the contraceptive mandate…The purpose of extending rights to corporations is to protect the rights of people associated with the corporation, including shareholders, officers, and employees…Protecting the free-exercise rights of closely held corporations thus protects the religious liberty of the humans who own and control them.”–Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
“In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs…The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.”–Ginsburg dissenting
(Burwell v. Hobby Lobby) 5:4
The Supreme Court overlooks for-profit corporate responsibilities for womanhood under the pretext of owner’s religious belief.
__________
CITIZENS UNITED 2.0
McCUTCHEON v. FEC: $$$=Speech
“The government may no more restrict how many candidates or causes a donor may support than it may tell a newspaper how many candidates it may endorse.”
(McCutcheon v. FEC)
__________
CITIZENS UNITED v. FEC
“If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”
“The difference between selling a vote and selling access is a matter of degree, not kind. And selling access is not qualitatively different from giving special preference to those who spent money on one’s behalf.”, Stevens dissenting.
(Citizens United v. FEC) 5:4
__________
CITIZENS UNITED 3.0 ?
Companies can remain silent about Blood Diamond under 1st Amendment
(National Assoc. of Manufacturers et al. v. SEC)
__________
OBAMA IS BEAUTIFUL !
The only President since Lincoln cares about little people, correcting judicial injustice created by typo
(In Re Ceasar Cantu)
__________
THE EVOLVING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Michigan may ban affirmative action through constitutional amendment
(Schuette v. BAMN)
“This refusal to accept the stark reality that race matters is regrettable. The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.”, Sotomayor dissenting
__________
THE ALARMING PLASTIC SURGERY
An emerging legal and national security issue
__________
SUPREME COURT PROMOTES POLITICAL LIES
“For politicians, lying is a religious observance akin to attending a church or a synagogue, except that they do it seven days a week.”
(Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus) 5:4
__________
JUDGE SAYS NO TO FACEBOOK & PHONE RECORDS
The first judicial ripple by Magistrate Judge Facciola because of Edward Snowden
__________
1st AMENDMENT MUST PLAY ACROBAT (5:4)
“The inclusion of a brief, ceremonial prayer as part of a larger exercise in civic recognition suggests that its purpose and effect are to acknowledge religious leaders and the institutions they represent, rather than to exclude or coerce nonbelievers.”
(Greece v. Galloway)
“I respectfully dissent from the court’s opinion because I think the Town of Greece’s prayer practices violate that norm of religious equality – the breathtakingly generous constitutional idea that our public institutions belong no less to the Buddhist or Hindu than to the Methodist or Episcopalian.”, Kagan dissenting, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor
(2nd Circuit ruled earlier that the practice of having one Christian prayer after another amounted to the town’s endorsement of Christianity.)
__________
OBAMA MUST PRODUCE DRONE KILLING MEMO
“After senior Government officials have assured the public that targeted killings are ‘lawful’ and … the Government makes public a detailed analysis [redacted], waiver of secrecy and privilege as to the legal analysis in the Memorandum has occurred.”, Judge Newman, 2nd Cir.
(The New York Times Company v.United States)
Justice Department decided not to appeal and produced the Memo, re-dacting 10/41.
(The Drone Killing Memo)
__________
OBAMA MUST STOP FORCE-FEEDING GITMO DETAINEE & PRODUCE VIDEOS
This is a big step for Judge Gladys Kessler. But, the real issue is whether Detainee should be kept, not whether force-feeding should be stopped. Also, according to UN, force-feeding violates international law.
After 12 years of imprisonment at Guantanamo without any charges, and after being cleared for release since 2009, Detainee is still kept there as prisoner
(Dhiab v. Obama et al.)
Judge lifted order in order to sustain Detainee’s life
__________
1ST AMEND ALLOWS VIDEORECORDING POLICE
“It is clearly established in [Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island] that police officers cannot, consistently with the [First Amendment right], prosecute citizens for violating wiretapping laws when they peacefully record a police officer performing his or her official duties in a public area.”-1st Circuit
(Gericke v. Begin et al.)
__________
GOVERNMENT MUST DELETE NON-RESPONSIVE COMPUTER DATA
“[W]e consider…whether the Fourth Amendment permits officials executing a warrant for the seizure of particular data on a computer to seize and indefinitely retain every file on that computer for use in future criminal investigations. We hold that it does not.”-Judge Chin, 2nd Cir.
(United States v. Ganias)
__________
1ST AMEND PROTECTS AGAINST RETALIATION
The First Amendment “protects a public employee who provided truthful sworn testimony, compelled by subpoena, outside the course of his ordinary job responsibilities.”-Justice Sotomayor for the unaimous court
(Lane v. Franks et al.)
__________
CELLPHONE PRIVACY PROTECTED
“The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought. Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple — get a warrant.”
