Lawsuit Against Bush ? - Salon

[WillyT]

Lawsuit against Bush?

The attorney for the only known target of NSA eavesdropping says his client would be happy to sue the president.

By Michael Scherer

<snip>

Dec. 23, 2005 | Iyman Faris, the only named American target of the National Security Agency's secret warrantless wiretap program, will consider a lawsuit against the president of the United States, according to his criminal defense attorney, David Smith. "I am sure he would be delighted to sue President Bush," said Smith, of the law firm English & Smith in Alexandria, Va., who is representing Faris in his criminal appeals. "He may be the only person in the country who can."

To accomplish this goal, Smith has issued an all points bulletin for civil liberties attorneys and constitutional scholars interested in taking up his client's case. "If some lawyer would like to sue on behalf of Faris, I would be happy to introduce them," Smith told Salon Thursday evening. "I've got the man here."

The offer comes at a time of concern among civil liberties attorneys, who worry that the courts may never get a chance to adjudicate the legality of President Bush's secret wiretap program. "Courts don't like to hear hypothetical matters," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty program, who has been preparing for a court battle. "There has to be a real plaintiff with a real injury."

Last week, the New York Times quoted several officials who claimed that Faris was caught with the help of warrantless wiretaps, making him one of only a few routes to challenging the legality of President Bush's program. The president could also face criminal charges from a special prosecutor, an unlikely scenario in the current political climate. Under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, warrants from a secret court are required to wiretap an American citizen in a matter of national security. President Bush has argued that his constitutional powers to defend the country trump the law's requirements.

<snip>

Link: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/23/nsa/?sid=1420363

Man... can you imagine the Discovery Phase of this possible trial???

:bounce::wow::bounce:

[Xenotime]

1. * on trial would be funny...

some "leader"

[babylonsister]

2. I want it televised!

:popcorn: :nuke:

[Canuckistanian]

9. I want to see Shrub in a cage in the courtroom, like Saddam

Shouting incomprehsible insults at the Judge...

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. This is all they need............

One certified plaintiff who can prove damages, and we're off to the races.

That's all they need - just one.

Leonard Cohen - "Anthem":

"There is a crack in everything;
That's how the light gets in........"

[WillyT]

4. Exactly !!!

:bounce::hi::bounce:

[Quakerfriend]

7. Don't you love Leonard Cohen!

[Talismom]

14. I sure do! n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Ah, you found my weak spot

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Leonard Cohen - Democracy

[Rosco T.]

19. Same way Nixon started to crumble... n/m

[EC]

5. Okay, DU lawyers nows the time to stand up and do the

right thing....get this going, and get famous in the process...the lawyer that sues Bush, wow, what a chance of a lifetime...

[TheGunslinger]

6. Well, like the article says, he's hardly the prime defendant.

But, still, a plot to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge....with blowtorches?? How absurd!!!

[Nightjock]

8. Isn't it illegal to sue the *president?

I'd love to see it but I thought I read that somewhere on DU.

*unelected.TWICE!

[WillyT]

12. Ironic... Isn't It ???

Isn't it illegal to sue the president when he does something illegal?

Alice... meet Wonderland...



:shrug:

[Rosco T.]

20. You can't file a CRIMINAL suit.. but the precedence was set with...

CLINTON to file a CIVIL SUIT..

thank you Ken Starr :D :D

[Loonman]

10. What the beauty of it is

Is when The Scaife assholes and the Congress went after Clinton, the rules they changed can now be used to go after Bush.

[electropop]

13. That's exactly right. They just don't seem to get the whole Karma concept

I remember thinking at the time, "The Republicans are going to regret making it so easy to attack the President." Oops.

[Talismom]

15. That's right. It made it legal to bring a civil case against him. n/t

[helderheid]

11. Would he be allowed to get his answers through his ear piece?

[Talismom]

16. LOL! Great question! I can just see him peering down and waiting to

be given the answer.

[Justice Is Comin]

17. Wait until the Specter hearing gets cranked up

I submit there are going to be all kinds of supporting violations to embellish damages. I believe with every bone in my body there will be subpoenas which will unravel other cases too. Just because they didn't get a warrant, doesn't mean somebody better be able to produce those names that were tapped without warrant or we're going to have nuclear melt down.

We haven't seen the tip of this iceberg yet.

[MissMarple]

21. Funny how protecting one guy's rights protects us all,

even if he is bad guy. It's funny how the rule of law works that way. ;)

"In many ways, Faris is not an ideal plaintiff for attorneys who hope to focus their case on whether the president abused his authority by spying on innocent Americans. Faris' guilt is widely acknowledged, despite his recent claims of innocence. Among the evidence against him, prosecutors alleged that he sent a message to al-Qaida leadership in 2003 claiming that "the weather is too hot," a signal that he could not follow through with his Brooklyn Bridge plan.

But if civil libertarians wait for the perfect case, they may have to forgo a legal challenge altogether. The targets of the secret NSA program are classified, and barring additional leaks, it is unclear how innocent American citizens would discover that they have been monitored. "The reality is that the people in Fourth Amendment cases are rarely the people you would invite over to dinner," said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel to the Electronic Privacy Information Center."

[many a good man]

22. Alito's 1985 SCOTUS case is relevant here

That case ultimately led to a 1985 ruling by the Supreme Court that the attorney general and other high level executive officials could be sued for violating people's rights, in the name of national security, with such actions as domestic wiretaps.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2004200&mesg_id=2004200

[WillyT]

23. Kick !!!

:kick:

[greiner3]

24. Cheney would pardon him!

:sarcasm:

[lebkuchen]

25. How does one find out about being surveilled?

I'd love to file a suit.

[Silverhair]

26. Useless. POTUS can not be sued for acts done as POTUS.

If he could, then every POTUS would be permanently neck deep in lawsuits by political opponents.

You are jumping for joy over nothing.