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a victory for our 4th amendment!

On March 31, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled against NSA wiretapping in the Bush era, in the al Haramain case that we have been following closely here for several years. Attorney Jon Eisenberg, interviewed in podcast #118, explains the victory. It’s the first, and possibly last, decision that clearly defines the “warrantless” domestic surveillance as ILLEGAL.
In #120, which we’ll post on April 5, you’ll hear me lobby US Senate candidate Joe Sestak, D-PA, on restoring our 4th Amendment rights. I hope you will lobby your representatives to reform the FISA “Reform” of 2008 to give back the rights we had pre-Bush/Cheney. In February, both houses approved the ugly extension of the Patriot Act, without a wimper from the compliant public. Please speak up, and don’t let the phony anger of the teabag right dominate the agenda. Obama will likely make another Supreme Court appointment in the near future–we must insist that the nominee reflects progressive views on constitutional rights, privacy rights, and executive power and accountability. If Obama appoints a pro-corporate person with a conservative record, we must be prepared to stage a “Miers” intervention. That refers to the way Republicans leaned on Bush II to withdraw the nomination of his clearly unqualified crony, Harriett Miers (who joined Alberto Gonzales and Michael Brown in Bush’s Axis of Dunces). This may be our last chance in (enter your guess below) a while to put a real liberal on the Court.