Maybe the government’s not casting its electronic net wide enough. I’d rather they go through 100,000 phone calls and identify 20 people. … And if the ratio to justify “probable cause” is really “right for one out of every two guys,” as a “government official who has studied the program closely” suggests to WaPo, that shows how wildly obsolete the Constitution’s “probable cause” requirement is when you’re trying to catch not horse thieves in 1789 but people with weapons that can kill whole cities in 2006.
I don’t think I’d go that far, but I’m not sure that what’s going on here even constitutes a search or seizure. Bearing in mind, of course, that neither I nor the critics Mickey criticizes actually knows what’s going on here. The people who do seem . . . interested.
UPDATE: Reader Errol Phillips writes:
Why not bring the Issue to the floor of the Senate and let our esteemed representatives tell us where they stand instead of all the posturing.
A simple YES or NO vote to allow the Program to continue should suffice.
Good idea. Clarity is good.