Posted on 11/16/2007 4:40:50 PM PST by Jay777
A federal appeals court in San Francisco today handed a major victory to the Bush administration, ruling that a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program could not go forward because of the "state secrets" privilege.
In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government, which had argued that allowing an Islamic charity's claims that it was illegally spied upon to go forward would threaten national security.
In the opinion, Judge M. Margaret McKeown flatly rejected the government's argument that "the very subject matter of the litigation is a state secret."
However, after reviewing in camera sealed information from the government, McKeown said on behalf of the three-judge panel, "We acknowledge the need to defer to the Executive on matters of foreign and national security and surely cannot legitimately find ourselves second-guessing the Executive in this arena."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Bad news for Bush. They’re always getting overturned. :(
The 9th Circus gets one right? Ah, 3-0, so it wasn’t the full Circus, just one of the rings. Watch it be appealed to the full court and get a different outcome.
This was reported earlier, right up to the “however” part. Hmmm.. lazy reporter I was reading from earlier, or was the article I was reading intentionally misleading?
The 9th circus said this? WOW.
Lenin and Mao Tse Tung are spinning in their graves.
Once again the 9th Circuit Court shows its contempt for liberty. The 9th needs to be broken up.
Judge M. Margaret McKeown (born May 11, 1951, in Casper, Wyoming) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Judge McKeown received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wyoming in 1972, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975. She has also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Georgetown and studied at the University of Madrid. Judge McKeown is an adjunct professor at the University of Washington Law School and at the University of San Diego School of Law. She is best known in academia for her work in intellectual property law.
The first female partner with the law firm of Perkins Coie in Seattle, Washington, and Washington, DC, Judge McKeown served in the White House under President Jimmy Carter. She was appointed to her current seat by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
On September 6, 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown penned a judgement (for a 3-judge panel) which affirmed a lower court ruling that banned display of the Sunrise Rock cross in the Preserve. She ruled that it was an impermissible governmental endorsement of religion: the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars the government from favoring any one religion, as it specifically applied to a white metal Latin cross in the Mojave National Preserve in southern California between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.[1]
###
Worked for Carter, appointed by Clinton, banned the Sunrise Rock cross. Hopefully she will be overturned.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.