The Dragnet’s Day in Court
The case that could destroy—or legitimize—mass NSA telephone surveillance.
▻http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/09/basaaly_moalin_s_defense_team_takes_on_mass_nsa_telephone_surveillance.single
On Sept. 6, far away from the two high-profile challenges to the NSA’s dragnet surveillance programs filed by the ACLU and EPIC, attorney Joshua Dratel filed a motion demanding a new trial for his client, Basaaly Moalin, and three other defendants. The motion argued that the defendants’ constitutional and statutory rights were violated by the government’s surveillance, committed under the NSA’s mass telephone record collection. Furthermore, Dratel argued, the prosecution’s secrecy violated rules of discovery.
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Dratel’s legal move went virtually unnoticed. But if it proves successful, it could break the NSA’s dragnet phone surveillance program. If it is unsuccessful, it will set a new low for the subversion of Americans’ constitutional and statutory rights by claims of national security in the courtroom.
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In an interview for this piece, Dratel summarized his frustration: “Everything is classified and secret until the government uses it for its own advantage.”
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