Apparently, the Justice Department flew all of the federal judges who serve on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA Court, into Washington Monday for a classified briefing on the legality of the NSA warrantless surveillance program. Though mum’s the word from all involved, The New York Times notes information gleaned from NSA taps was used to garner FISA court orders. And you wonder why they never turn the government down?
The Times story also concludes with a quote from a new letter by 13 law professors and government officials:
[T]he Justice Department’s defense of what it concedes was secret and warrantless electronic surveillance of persons within the United States fails to identify any plausible legal authority for such surveillance. Accordingly the program appears on its face to violate existing law.
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