Page:ACLU v. NSA Opinion (August 17, 2006), US District Court, East-Michigan.djvu/33

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considered ... an agent of a foreign power solely upon the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." 50 U.S.C. 1805(a)(3)(A). See also United States v. Falvey, 540 F. Supp. at 1310.

Finally, as Justice Powell wrote for the Court in the Keith case:

National security cases, moreover, often reflect a convergence of First and Fourth Amendment values not present in cases of 'ordinary' crime. Though the investigative duty of the executive may be stronger in such cases, so also is there greater jeopardy to constitutionally protected speech. 'Historically the struggle for freedom of speech and press in England was bound up with the issue of the scope of the search and seizure power,' (citation omitted). History abundantly documents the tendency of Government - however benevolent and benign its motives - to view with suspicion those who most fervently dispute its policies. Fourth Amendment protections become the more necessary when the targets of official surveillance may be those suspected of unorthodoxy in their political beliefs. U.S. v. U.S. District Court, 407 U.S. at 313-314.

The President of the United States, a creature of the same Constitution which gave us these Amendments, has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders as required by FISA, and accordingly has violated the First Amendment Rights of these Plaintiffs as well.

VII. The Separation of Powers

The Constitution of the United States provides that "[a]ll legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States...."[1] It further provides that "[t]he executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."[2] And that "...he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed...."[3] [*34]

  1. U.S. Const. art. I, § 1, cl. 1
  2. U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 1
  3. U.S. Const. art. II, § 3, cl. 1