Justin Smith writes about how FISA warrants violate the Constitution’s
Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Justin is absolutely correct. On a personal level, I feel
during war that security overrides Rights. Friends we have been in a state of
war with Islamic terrorists since September 11, 2001.
NOW! I have found myself modifying my perspective of the
Patriot Act and FISA warrants. Once it has become apparent that Executive
Administration of President Barack Hussein Obama weaponized FISA warrants in an
effort to maintain a Left-Wing government under Crooked Hillary, I have begun
to re-think my concept of the usage of FISA warrants used without probable cause
against U.S. citizens. Incidentally, FISA Warrants were not designed for U.S.
citizens but rather against non-citizens that might pose a terrorist threat
against Americans.
In FISA abuses the FBI, Intelligence Agencies, the State
Department and probably more from the Executive Branch; used back door unmasking to spy on American citizens
as well as potential dangerous foreign entities.
These FISA abuses under Obama (who also weaponized the IRS and
what else?) have made America a Leftist police state with the full cooperation
of the MSM that pro-Leftist in influencing America.
Well that is enough of me. Read Justin Smith’s take on how
the Fourth Amendment has been unconstitutionally annulled.
JRH 2/4/18
***********************
Liberty's Worth
By Justin O. Smith
Sent 2/3/18 3:34 PM
One's liberty is the most precious thing next to life
itself, and Americans must stop standing in silence, while Presidents, past and
present, and Congressmen erode and trample our Fourth Amendment Right, no
matter their intentions, through Orwellian legislation that directly
contravenes it. Everyone must vociferously and fiercely oppose and counter
these so-called "leaders" and their illegal violations of the Constitution,
by replacing all those, who recently voted for the FISA Reauthorization Act of
2017, because no one, even in the name of national security, has any right or
authority to take our liberty.
The FISA Reauthorization Act passed
in the House, 256 to 164, on January
11th, and it passed by 65 - 34 vote [Blog Editor: Justin’s original text
said the FISA reauthorization succeeded by only one vote. I did not find that
vote, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t occur. Many votes often occur until a
final vote is taken which often appears different than previous votes for
constituents who agree with the majority vote.] in the Senate [S. 139], on January 18th; and,
through the House vote on Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, the House
rejected the USA Rights Act, 233 to 183, and its requirement
that officials must obtain warrants before searching and reading Americans'
emails, after they are acquired in any surveillance operation.
Bulk surveillance on all Americans without a warrant,
heretofore known to be unConstitutional, is now deemed acceptable by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
and the U.S. Congress, but incredulously, they do make one exception. A warrant
is required for the emails of the subject in an open criminal investigation,
where no national security concerns exist, thus providing criminals more rights
than normal, law-abiding everyday U.S. citizens.
One must also be shocked by House Joint Resolution 76,
which was passed by this Congress and signed by President Trump on August 22,
2017. It allows the searches of homes and businesses
without any warrant, in areas adjacent to the Washington [D.C.]
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and extending miles outward in all
directions, and far into nearby regions of Maryland and Virginia.
All of the aforementioned goes against the Fourth Amendment, which states that Americans' rights
"to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall
issue, but upon probable cause."
In a ninety-nine page opinion for the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, Judge Rosemary Collyer had many harsh terms for the Obama Administration.
She noted that the Obama administration had ignored Section 702 procedures designed to ensure
Americans' civil rights were safeguarded, as any administration
performs the necessary work to provide for our national security. Collyer
charged that Obama's administration had violated Section 702's requirements and
created a "very serious Fourth Amendment issue."
The serious nature of these developments is further
highlighted by new evidence exposed by House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Devin Nunes, who has deep insight through a "top secret" clearance.
He charged on January 18th, that seen through the prism of overt pro-Hillary
bias and anti-Trump prejudice exhibited by the CIA, FBI and other agencies and their
use of National Security Agency secret information for political purposes, they
were all untrustworthy with our information and the nation's intelligence
secrets. The many abuses under the Obama Administration exposes the danger of
giving too much power to our intelligence agencies, who seem far too
willing to use stored metadata for harassment, blackmail and to further their
own political agendas.
FBI Director Christopher Wray viewed Nunes's classified
House Intelligence Memo on Sunday January 21st. The next day Deputy Director
Andrew McCabe announced his "retirement". McCabe was named in the
memo, as the person who used the unverified Steele Dossier to illegally obtain
a FISA warrant against President Trump.
The House Intelligence Committee Memo released
on February 2nd shows that a presidential campaign was spied on. An
unverified dossier, that nobody will stand by under oath was used in an illegal
manner to obtain a FISA warrant. And yet, with this knowledge in hand seven
days before the House vote, Representative Nunes and twenty-one other House
committee members kept over five-hundred of their colleagues in the dark, about
domestic spying abuses, while the debate on that very issue was ongoing, and
they voted to expand the power of those who abused it.
Surely the expansion of FISA would never have passed the
Senate, if the damning information contained in the House Intelligence
Committee Memo had been released seven days earlier. If just one conscientious
senator had known of the NSA and FBI abuses concealed by the House Intelligence
Committee, and changed his vote, the expansion would have failed.
Any American paying attention is now asking, "What is
going on with our government?" They know that the Fourth Amendment has
been abrogated, gutted, by the very representatives and senators who swore an
oath to preserve, protect and defend our U.S. Constitution.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) had vowed to fight reauthorization
of Section 702 without reforms. Just prior to the vote on the USA Rights Act, he stated: "Our Founders
gave us the Fourth Amendment to prevent a tyrannical government from invading
our privacy, and we are fools to relinquish that hard-won right because of
fear. The Founders did not include the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights
as a suggestion."
Significantly, on January 11th, President Trump noted that
Section 702 was used to "badly surveil and abuse the Trump campaign",
as he expressed skepticism regarding FISA. At the very least, this should have
withheld his signature, until FISA was reformed. He would have served America
better, if he had followed his initial gut instinct.
After signing the bill, President Trump falsely told America
that it only targeted foreigners. Is this another case of Trump being easily
manipulated by his advisors, or is it one more instance of his own lack of
knowledge and preparation on an issue?
The FISA Reauthorization Act is now in place until 2024.
Each day from this point on, all of us must demand it be rescinded, and before
we allow its renewal, it must be reformed.
Liberty is the essence of our natural state, so when
Congress acts to limit our liberty in favor of greater security, obtained
through a FISA operation with highly questionable results in the war on
terrorism, they are philosophically, historically and constitutionally wrong.
Our liberty is of infinitely greater worth to us, than the security we have
instructed Congress to ensure.
Congress's recent actions are moves to permanently destroy
our right to privacy, exalting safety over liberty and providing neither. And
in the process, limited government is being undone, right before our eyes.
As Ludwig von Mises reminds us, government
is essentially the negation of liberty. If anyone truly believes that
monitoring everyone in America is the least restrictive way to keep us safe,
let that person surrender his own privacy. The rest of us will retain ours and
provide for our own safety.
I did not consent to the abrogation of my Fourth Amendment
Right, and I don't imagine most of America did either. Our rights are
inalienable and cannot be separated from us, not by Congress, not by anyone.
By Justin O. Smith
________________
Edited by John R. Houk
Text embraced by brackets and all source links are by the Editor.
© Justin O. Smith
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