Don’t Close Your Eyes to Surveillance Dangers: A Response to Richard Epstein

Yesterday, Professor Richard Epstein wrote a post for Just Security recommending unmodified continuation of the NSA’s bulk phone records collection. Today, I responded to his post, and explained why I think Richard's position is a surprising divergence from what I understand his values to be. In his Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Richard wrote of how important respect for the rule of law, separation of powers, the protection of all persons, citizens and aliens alike, and the insistence on known and settled rules to prevent arbitrary impositions of government power are. He said that executive action that lacks explicit authorization in the Constitution or laws of the United States raises grave constitutional concerns. Bulk collection of phone records fails all these principles. To see why, and the rest of the post, click here.

Add new comment