Caught With Their Pants Down

The Guardian reported today that “in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, has begun notifying criminal defendants that Fisa surveillance material may be used against them at trial. While terrorism attorneys have long suspected that was the case, the public acknowledgement was another break from tradition. ”

Yet another example of how the Federal Government hasn’t been able to deny that they have blatantly violated the law.

Now the question is: how many cases and decisions are tainted by the Government’s misbehavior? I would guess the number to be huge. An avalanche of lawsuits to re-open cases or have decisions invalidated are likely to ensue.

It’s bad enough that our government has broken our laws, in the process violating the rights of countless citizens at high personal cost to them. The consequential cost that is yet to come will have a huge cost, and it will hurt every tax paying citizen in the wallet at some point.

The costs of the Snowden incident will be huge. We have no one to hold accountable other than the Government, which is clearly culpable. Will we accept some “gosh, I’m so sorry I knowingly broke laws and destroyed trust in the American government” and let the guitly waltz off into a well funded sunset? Or will we hold them accountable the same way that they would hold us.

We need to send a police force into Washington and have the criminals arrested and put through the system, just like any other person. Otherwise, we will have no justice, no peace, and no freedom.

Check out my recent Snowden-related radio broadcasts at DayPage.net