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FISCR: Wiretapping without warrant for calls outside US satisfies Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

There is a foreign intelligence surveillance exception to the Fourth Amendment for surveillance conducted on calls outside the United States involving suspected terrorists. In re Directives [Redacted] Pursuant to Section 105B of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 2008 WL 5501436 (Foreign Int. Surv. Ct. Rev. August 22, 2008), ordered released January 12, 2009: 2. The Foreign Intelligence Exception. The recurrent theme permeating the petitioner's arguments is the notion that there is no foreign intelligence exception to the Fourth Amendment's Warrant Clause. The FISC rejected this notion, positing that our decision in In re Sealed Case confirmed the existence of a foreign intelligence exception to the warrant requirement. While the Sealed Case court avoided an express holding that a foreign intelligence exception exists by assuming arguendo that whether or not the warrant requirements were met, the statute could survive on reasonableness grounds, see 310 F...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 17, 2009 (boomark / email).