Kathryn, the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the Sixth Circuit’s ruling that upheld the NSA’s warrantless Terrorist Surveillance Program (reversing the federal district court in Detroit, which purported to invalidate the program) is especially timely.
The Court’s action sustains the Sixth Circuit’s decision that the ACLU and its co-plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the program. (I wrote about that decision for the Weekly Standard, here.) This underscores that the President had constitutional authority to order warrantless surveillance; that the cooperating telecoms were not only being patriotic but exercising sound judgment when they complied with requests for assistance; and that the House Democrats are acting reprehensibly by refusing to consider the intelligence reform bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate. The Democrats are gambling with our security for no better reason than to preserve these meritless lawsuits.