Quote Originally Posted by orangat
ah
So its just a procedural objection then. You don't see unauthorised phone taps being itself wrong or do you?
Ah but that is the issue - is the phone taps unauthorized or are they unconstitutional.

If the wire tap follows the procedures of the law and the requirements and meets the specifications of the law as monitored by the FISA court then the wire-tap is not un-authorized. In fact under the current laws those wire-taps are within the statues of the law.

If it violates this process then the wiretap is indeed unauthorized and can be unconstitutional.

From reading this thread I wonder if some are confusing unauthorized with un-constitutional.

For the warrantless wiretaps to be unauthorized, the agency must have violated the process as stipulated in the law as it was designed. Evidence does indeed point to a conculsion that the government has not been following the procedure and the requirements under FISA.

Now if the arguement is that such a law is unconstitutional - then one must demonstrate that the law is unconstutional. All laws are prone to abuse by the authorities, but that does not make the law unconstitutional.