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Garnet SpyThe Senate’s approval of the ‘telecom immunity + FISA wiretapping’ bill provides relief for all of the major corporations that broke the law by siding with the Bush administration. This bill made it illegal no longer and provided immunity to the telecoms for cooperating. This is a staunch violation of the ex post facto clause of the Constitution in Article 1, Section 9, which reads:
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
The Constitution has been violated again and there will be no mention of this on the major news networks. Democrats and Republicans alike voted for this bill.
For once I was surprised that Obama proved his worth to the establishment while Hillary Clinton voted against this bill. She must be showing her disapproval in the media conspiracy to pick her over Obama for the nomination.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Democrats, Politics | Tagged: constitution, ex post facto, FISA
The bill clarified muddled ground (no ruling of illegality had yet been made) by declaring something illegal. Completely different that taking something clearly legal, rendering it clearly illegal and making that act effective retroactively.
If it was not illegal then there would be no need for “telecom immunity”.
Granting either civil or criminal immunity is not, and has never been, an ex post facto law under the constitution. See Calder v Bull (1798). The ex post facto clause of the constitution only applies to criminal law, and also only applies when criminal penalties are *increased* or when something that was previously legal is made legal, and people are retroactively charged.
the FISA bill condones and allows warrentless wiretapping, and it’s a shame it got the support it did. Greenwald’s pieces have been the most interesting on this subject: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/21/obama/
It’s pretty clear that the telecoms were committing illegal acts. I understand that in the wake of 9/11 they might have made an exception. But this bill makes it OK in the future.
Moreover, despite the fact that this is designed to keep us safe, we are in effect letting ourselves lose control over fear of terrorism…which is exactly what Bin Laden wants.