Posted on 03/22/2010 1:14:50 PM PDT by OldDeckHand
This story on the First Lady taking the kids to a Broadway show in New York has an interesting element: a warning by the Secret Service that anyone taking their picture would have their cameras confiscated. Perhaps the Secret Service General Counsel could point us to where in the Constitution and federal law the Secret Service has the authority to ban photographs by the public and the confiscation of cellphones and pictures to enforce the ban.
Michelle Obama – with Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, and about a dozen other people in tow – attended the matinee performance of “Memphis” Sunday. After the block was cordoned off, the large group entered the theater. Secret Service members did not like all of the pictures being taken that issued the warning. If the First Family wishes to avoid pictures, they may want to watch the play on video rather than confiscating cellphones and cameras of citizens. I find it outrageous that the Secret Service would consider it within its authority to confiscate phones to avoid annoyance to the First Family. The Secret Service at times seems to view itself as a Praetorian Guard rather than a public law enforcement agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at jonathanturley.org ...
I am a famous public figure with many jealous of me. Do you allow my bodyguards to take your cellphone?
Maybe the “bug-assed-one is afraid someone will get a photo of her chompin’ down on some greasy ribs or maybe a dozen or so doughnuts. That said...does it take a wide angle to “capture” all of her????
Are you person who is also designated by law to be protected by the Secret Service?
Must be getting a lot more threats lately....
Cite the code then that gives Obama’s family the right to confiscate whatever they feel is necessary from you.
http://www.secretservice.gov/history.shtml
The ACLU has been attacking this one. Gives them a great deal of power.
Not surprising....goes right along with all the other dictator behavior. Shame on the SS for morphing into the Gestapo however. They are mostly former military and should know better.
Michelle doesn’t want any more photos of her rear end, since she has become the Czarina of Fat. She’s supposed to be setting an example of thinness and fitness for America’s youth.
That Sasha is a cute little chub; but people will be questioning what her mama feeds her.
The Secret Service are joining in on the general thuggishness of the prez and first lady.
Can I use my Brownie camera to photograph her, or is that racist?
I’d like to see them confiscate phones from 10,000 tea partiers at once. Let’s put them to the challenge
as so has Sarah Palin with her special needs child and her lets do absence now daughter.
OK - I must have missed the story where Palin had federal agents threaten American citizens with confiscating private property.
Could you please provide a link?
If so, we might as well call winners of federal popularity contests, their spouses, as well as their offspring, the nobility and just get it over with already.
Of course the usual suspect that originally instituted this power grab, Bill Clinton, boy king to some, or sink emperor to those who are coherent enough. But a play attended by a spouse/children of an elected official is a far cry for this:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22754.pdf
Too much power, too broad an authority. Breeds arrogance which breeds stupidity.
Still, if they come to take my phone I will not give it up and will depose witnesses with a defense on the grounds that will include a claim that Obama is not a legal President due such special protection. That SHOULD give such a directly and specifically harmed person standing.
I’m thinking Tea Party photo Walk!
What the heck!?
Such openness with this Hope and Change.
Can you say “GESTAPO’?
Very true.
Still, if they come to take my phone I will not give it up and will depose witnesses with a defense on the grounds that will include a claim that Obama is not a legal President due such special protection. That SHOULD give such a directly and specifically harmed person standing
And I would avoid taking the first lady's picture with my phone if the Secret Service tells me not to. Of course, it is worth trying and contesting to test the limits of their power.
Actually it's probably because they don't want pictures taken of the 35 relatives who are freeloading during spring vacation.
The Obamas promised them an exotic foreign trip but it got cancelled. We're lucky they're just seeing the sights of NYC from the ground and not from a low flying Air Force One.
Assume nothing. Do you remember the secret service agent who was stopped from heading to Crawford TX shortly after 9/11, (while Bush was there on vacation,) armed, and without proper authorization, and with a book about radical Islam on his person? The incident was dumped down the memory hole, and no followup ever reported. But I remember.
This report about SS agents resorting to Nazi tactics should not be shrugged off. They are, after all, only cops with a federal badge. They are not exempt from the Bill of Rights.
Good point!
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