Judge to Ashcroft: Drop Dead

A U.S. district judge has ruled that the section of the PATRIOT Act which forces firms to turn over their customers' financial records on demand of the feds is unconstitutional. No kidding.

Judge Victor Marreo noted the government's secret demands for info lack any judicial safeguards. Problems with the Act's "information requests" have been evident for some time.

Comments

[andy]

:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dixie Pixie]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ken Shultz]

Three cheers for the Constitution!

[handsome-dan]

How long before some conservative shill gets his "damned activist judges" dander up over this? A gold star for the first person to point it out...

[mike]

Is this the section of the PATRIOT Act that Kerry wrote?

[trainwreck]

Meanwhile, in Washington State, the feds are demanding unlimited searches for vehicles boarding ferries, even threatening to make state troopers in to federal marshalls.

"Assistant Washington Attorney General Steve Reinmuth said the Attorney General's Office thinks the Coast Guard order, coupled with the FBI threat assessment, would allow the state to make legal physical searches of cars.

U.S. Attorney McKay said yesterday he also is willing to designate state troopers as federal marshals or argue that a car waiting to board a ferry falls under federal jurisdiction, which does not prohibit such searches.

"The bottom line is that we are going to do what we need to do to ensure the safety of the public," McKay said. "

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002049152_ferry29m.html

[Warren]

I can't believe how fucking thrilled I am over this one brick being remortared into the ruins that was once the Constitution of the United States.

God I need a drink? but tonight I'm buying.

[Rick Barton]

Yes!!! And perhaps it would help for us to contact our congress people and senators and demand (politely of course) that the administration not appeal this decision.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Remember, it was conservative Republicans in congress who led the fight to have sunset provisions put on the Patriot Act.

[J.A. - USAG]

Laugh while you can. I'm having the judge shipped to Camp X-Ray.

[Rick Barton]

Note, that in this case we have the ACLU coming to the aid of the business's fighting the act. Kudos to these business's and the ACLU!

[McFeelme]

Guys, as Handsome Dan has pointed out alread, linking to a previous Reason article.

John F'ing Kerry is the one who penned this particular part of the Patriot Act, written years before as a way to go after Drug Dealers.

[Ken Shultz]

McFeelme,

That's another good reason to vote for Badnarik, right?

[Gary]

If there wasn't a reason, knowing Kerry's roots in that provision make it even more compelling to do so.

[Jason Bourne]

Speaking of Badnarik, did anyone see the show on PBS about the minor parties? The Constitution Party was more wacko than I thought it was (the Greens were what I've experienced them to be over the years).

[Clif G]

You can bet that we the people are on the edge of insanity. this is not over and the system will try and try again.Be observant and use your voice or they will take that away if they can.

[Clif G]

You can bet that we the people are on the edge of insanity. this is not over and the system will try and try again.Be observant and use your voice or they will take that away if they can.

[Clif G]

You can bet that we the people are on the edge of insanity. this is not over and the system will try and try again.Be observant and use your voice or they will take that away if they can.

[Wraith]

Yeah, I saw the PBS thing. Quite irritating. They didn't even cover Badnarik until over 20 minutes into the show, and they didn't actually speak with him until the second half of the program. Not sure what was going on, but everyone got more face time than Badnarik. Including Nolan and Russo (although the latter mostly talked about awards he won or was nominated for). Very weird selection of coverage on the LP.

[John A.]

You idiots! You can't lecture me about the law! I AM THE LAW!

Now turn yourselves in before I start singing again.

[Wild Pegasus]

Actually, what was struck down was part of an Act enacted in 1986, a part of which was amended by the Patriot Act. This is more of a rebuke of Reagan than Bush.

- Josh

[Jason Ligon]

Orin Kerr over at Volokh comments on this story as inappropriately attributing the provision in question to the Patriot Act. I have no idea if he's right, but here's the link:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_09_28.shtml#1096522582

[Ken Shultz]

Wraith,

I noticed that Badnarik didn't get the fat part of the coverage either, but I suspect that may have had something to do with no one expecting him to win. Much of what they shot, they seemed to have shot before the convention.

If I had to choose the most likely candidate(s) to win the nomination before the convention, the one I wanted to spend time and resources following around and filming, I might not have chosen Badnarik either. His was a surprise win, wasn't it?