Lucille
07-30-2013, 09:14 AM
http://reason.com/24-7/2013/07/30/judge-no-need-to-prove-harm-under-espion
In another potential setback for whistleblowers, a US judge has made a ruling that essentially lowers the requirements for government prosecutors to prove damage to national security committed by alleged leakers.
The case concerns Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, who in 2010 was indicted on two counts of disclosing national defense secrets to Fox News reporter James Rosen the year prior. Kim’s information was based on an intelligence report which was available to a limited number of government employees.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the prosecution does not need to show that the information Kim allegedly leaked could damage US national security or benefit a foreign power, even potentially.
She has quite a history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Kollar-Kotelly) defending the state's secrets and other unconstitutional shenanigans. And now this.
...Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where she served from 2002 to 2009.
[...]
On July 14, 2004, barely two months after President Bush was forced to end NSA domestic internet metadata collection by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Kollar-Kotelly issued a FISA court order allowing the NSA to resume unconstitutional[2] domestic internet metadata collection.[3]
Kollar-Kotelly denied a last-minute appeal by Saddam Hussein's legal team, stating that the United States has no right to interfere with the judicial processes of another nation's courts. In August 2007, she ordered the administration of George W. Bush to give its views regarding records requests by the American Civil Liberties Union on the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.[4]
On June 16, 2008, Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Office of Administration was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and therefore did not have to release records regarding missing White House e-mails. This was seen as a victory for the Bush Administration in terms of maintaining a tight grip on the flow of information about the executive branch.[7]
On March 19, 2009, in response to a joint lawsuit brought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction whereby she blocked a rule that would permit visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons. The change of rule which she blocked had been enacted by the United States Department of the Interior after being supported by 51 members of Congress and passing an extended public comments period. She stated that her decision to block the change of rule was because there was no environmental analysis performed and therefore Congress "ignored (without sufficient explanation) substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts" of the rule.[9]
In another potential setback for whistleblowers, a US judge has made a ruling that essentially lowers the requirements for government prosecutors to prove damage to national security committed by alleged leakers.
The case concerns Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, who in 2010 was indicted on two counts of disclosing national defense secrets to Fox News reporter James Rosen the year prior. Kim’s information was based on an intelligence report which was available to a limited number of government employees.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the prosecution does not need to show that the information Kim allegedly leaked could damage US national security or benefit a foreign power, even potentially.
She has quite a history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Kollar-Kotelly) defending the state's secrets and other unconstitutional shenanigans. And now this.
...Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where she served from 2002 to 2009.
[...]
On July 14, 2004, barely two months after President Bush was forced to end NSA domestic internet metadata collection by Attorney General John Ashcroft, Kollar-Kotelly issued a FISA court order allowing the NSA to resume unconstitutional[2] domestic internet metadata collection.[3]
Kollar-Kotelly denied a last-minute appeal by Saddam Hussein's legal team, stating that the United States has no right to interfere with the judicial processes of another nation's courts. In August 2007, she ordered the administration of George W. Bush to give its views regarding records requests by the American Civil Liberties Union on the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.[4]
On June 16, 2008, Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Office of Administration was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and therefore did not have to release records regarding missing White House e-mails. This was seen as a victory for the Bush Administration in terms of maintaining a tight grip on the flow of information about the executive branch.[7]
On March 19, 2009, in response to a joint lawsuit brought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction whereby she blocked a rule that would permit visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons. The change of rule which she blocked had been enacted by the United States Department of the Interior after being supported by 51 members of Congress and passing an extended public comments period. She stated that her decision to block the change of rule was because there was no environmental analysis performed and therefore Congress "ignored (without sufficient explanation) substantial information in the administrative record concerning environmental impacts" of the rule.[9]