In my recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, I warned that, if Congress reauthorized Section 702 without major changes, we have “become a nation of chumps.” The FBI is once again before Congress after years of systemic and massive abuses of FISA and only a nation of chumps would give them the same authority. With each renewal, the FBI has pledged that it has learned its lesson and would stop its abuses . . . only to continue to abuse the authority. Now, a FISA order indicates that the FBI searched the data of a U.S. Senator, a state senator, and a judge.
Notably, in his recent testimony, FBI Director Christopher Wray tried to blame his predecessor James Comey for the abuses, a claim that was recently undermined in the targeting of Republican staff members. Now, it is equally clear that the abuses have continued on his watch.
FBI employees searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator. It also searched the Social Security number of a state judge who alleged civil rights violations by a municipal chief of police, according to the opinion by the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The problem is that Wray has continued to refuse to answer the most basic questions about the FISA abuses, including a baffling denial that he even knew what “parallel construction” means in his testimony before this Committee this week. It was akin to the head of the CDC saying that she did not know what “gain-of-function” research means.
“Parallel construction” has long been a complaint of civil libertarians and defense counsel. It avoids “poisonous tree” problems by replanting the seeds of the evidence to claim independent acquisition. It hides the true origins of evidence from courts and in some cases, Congress. While defendants are supposed to receive notice of Section 702 evidence, parallel construction can be used to evade that obligation. Yet, Wray insists that he has no idea what it means.
The choice is ours: we can be informed citizens or a nation of chumps.
The judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court, must act swiftly and resolutely.
The Supreme Court is negligent and derelict in doing its sworn-oath duty to support the Constitution per its authority under the doctrine of Judicial Review?
The President is corrupted and high criminal.
The Department of Justice, the FBI, the FISA Courts et al. are corrupted and high criminal.
The Supreme Court is vested with the authority to “strike down” or determine the constitutional legitimacy of all acts of the executive and legislative branches (Marbury v. Madison, 1803).
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney told Lincoln flatly that Lincoln had “…no ground whatever…” to “…authorize the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus….”
To wit,
“The clause in the Constitution which authorizes the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is in the ninth section of the first article. This article is devoted to the Legislative Department of the United States, and has not the slightest reference to the Executive Department.”
“I can see no ground whatever for supposing that the President in any emergency or in any state of things can authorize the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or arrest a citizen except in aid of the judicial power.”
“I have exercised all the power which the Constitution and laws confer on me, but that power has been resisted by a force too strong for me to overcome.”
– Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, May 28, 1861
_____________________________________
Judicial Review in the United States
Annotation
The legitimacy of judicial review and the judge’s approach to judicial review are discussed.
Abstract
The doctrine of judicial review holds that the courts are vested with the authority to determine the legitimacy of the acts of the executive and the legislative branches of government.
– U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
______________________________________________
Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes that they find to violate the Constitution of the United States. Decided in 1803, Marbury is regarded as the single most important decision in American constitutional law.[1][2] The Court’s landmark decision established that the U.S. Constitution is actual law, not just a statement of political principles and ideals, and helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the federal government.
– Wiki
Barack Hussein Obama knew.
Barack Hussein Obama is making the decisions as praeses in absentia.
Joe Biden was Barack Hussein Obama’s Vice President.
Merrick Garland was Barack Hussein Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
(i.e. Barack Hussein Obama, the party’s community organizer, is destroying America to obtain “order out of chaos” and claim America for global communism. Now you know why the Framers precluded Obama, the son of a foreign citizen, radical extremist, anti-colonialist, anti-UK and anti-American from the presidency through their “natural born citizen” requirement – that is two parents who were citizens, and/or a father who was a citizen, at the time of the candidate’s birth, per the definition in the legal text and reference of the era, the Law of Nations).
FBI Directors lie to Congress, lie to the FISA Court, and ignore Congressional subpoenas because they are protected by Democratic Party of Schumer, Pelosi, Swalwell, AOC, Cory Bush, Ilhan Omar, and their new rising star Virgin Islands Representative At-Large Stacey Plaskett. The FBI has become the official Election Interference Unit of the Democratic Party and little Chris Wray is their strike dog. The only realistic way that Congress can correct this is through the purse and de-funding the agency. We The People, however, have the ballot box if we can stem the tide of millions of unverified mail-in ballots and Dominion voting machines that don’t have to be compliant with new federal security regulations before the 2024 election. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
Sky raider, but they’re really great guys.
So the FISA court judges have no culpability; they cannot sense, perceive or otherwise distinguish a lie?
Every structural support of the American society of laws is broken down.
“FBI Directors lie to Congress, lie to the FISA Court, and ignore Congressional subpoenas…” …and those are just a few of their *good* qualities. Oy.
Were we lulled by our happy lives and good times so as not to see the authoritarian snake slither into our paradise? If we don’t do something about our schools and universities and do it soon, we will BE Communist China in 5 years. And the CCP is also sending actual CCP military through the open border, with Biden’s and Obama’s complicity. Obama revered Saul Alinsky. He is pulling the strings. Whoever thought this would work out well?
And Trump appointed Wray. Does Trump ever learn? Maybe the GOP should replace their elephant symbol with woolly mammoth. Democrat Neanderthals keep herding the GOP over a cliff–with Trump’s help. It’s becoming an extinction-level event.
And it sure looks like Obama intentionally installed thugs throughout the leadership of the federal bureaucracy. They act like racketeers. The soldiers do the dirty tricks, and the boss keeps his hands clean so he can shield them from justice. At first, I didn’t believe it, but it keeps happening, over and over, again.
It’s equally alarming that this is explicitly how Saul Alinsky instructed American communists to operate. Is there a pattern here??
I’m sorry to make everybody mad today, but America has not been well-served by its leaders. That’s our fault.
It’s not the President but Senators who effectively appoint…”Officers of the United States.”
________________________________________________________________________
Article 2, Section 2
The President…by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States,….
Apparently you haven’t read up on the SES, Senior Executive Service. Under Obama, the SES was about 1500 industry and corporate people, their jobs were experts and top position handlers in the government agencies.
Obama, with his transformation policy, increased the SES roles to over 7,000 employees.
That top force are the gateway and wall into all the agencies, no matter the current POTUS.
They tell appointees and those assigned by the POTUS to the various agency heads what flies and what doesn’t, how it works and how it can’t and won’t. They are the deciders, since POTUS appointees are fresh people without any clue how that bureaucracy works.
So when people say Obama is still effectively in charge, there is a big reason he is that most have no idea occurred.
The Senior Executive Service
At least SCOTUS is ruling against the administrative state. SCOTUS just granted certiorari in the Jarksey case. A win for Jarksey could blow up the SEC’s adjudicative forum in which it harpoons folks and then subjects them to a tribunal before an administrative law judge who is not an Article III judge.
Well, then there’s that.
Diogenes, what’s next? How can we reverse the trajectory? We are definitely at a tipping point.
Catherine, vote for good, EFFECTIVE conservatives in the primaries. That’s the only honest way out.
Trump had some good policies, but the Deep State keeps beating him, and he pretends like it’s not happening. Shakdi has an interesting insight about the SES, and this was one place where Trump should have done more to drain the swamp.
Diogenes, take note SES was created in 1978.
“The Senior Executive Service (SES) lead America’s workforce. As the keystone of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the SES was established to “…ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality.” These leaders possess well-honed executive skills and share a broad perspective on government and a public service commitment that is grounded in the Constitution.”
SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE
The Washington D. C. Deep State is a group of 8,156 appointed mangers in 75 federal agencies that control the executive bureaucracy and tell new political appointees what they can and cannot do. Yes, that’s right, the Deep State is an official government program, well-organized, comprehensive, and “in charge.”
OUT OF THE 8,156 MEMBERS WHO MAKE UP THIS DEEP STATE OF ENSCONCED BUREAUCRATS, OVER 7,000 WERE APPOINTED BY OBAMA.
These the are the “Obama Holdouts” that still control the executive branch of government a full year after Trump has come to office. Obama expanded the existing Deep State managers and appointed over 7,000 of the 8,156 bosses who are called the Senior Executive Service.
Have you ever heard of such a group?
Some call it Obama’s Army.
There are four basic types of appointments:
Presidential Appointments with Senate Confirmation: There are 1,212 senior leaders, including the Cabinet secretaries and their deputies, the heads of most independent agencies and ambassadors, who must be confirmed by the Senate.
Presidential Appointments without Senate Confirmation: There are 353 positions which make up much of the White House staff, although they are also scattered throughout many of the smaller federal agencies.
*Non-career Senior Executive Service: Members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) work in key positions just below the top presidential appointees, bridging the gap between the political leaders and the civil service throughout the federal government.*
Schedule C Appointments: There are 1,403 Schedule C appointees who serve in a confidential or policy role. They range from schedulers and confidential assistants to policy experts.
The Senior Executive Service (SES) in 2016 had 8,156 members who were appointees. Obama appointed over 7,000 of them to these key positions. Most of these appointees do not arise from inside the respective agencies through a merit system and often are not qualified.
It is little known that there are many more SES appointees than any other type of political appointment. The “key bosses” in the federal government’s SES program are not only unqualified cronies, but they are also paid more than the highest government rate of G-15. They can even get bonuses, and each agency can set the salary of each SES member, which has no top range.
THE DEEP STATE – SHADOW GOVERNMENT IS A RECOGNIZED BUREAUCRATIC FUNCTION THAT PAYS THE BEST SALARIES IN FEDERAL WORK.
The Senior Executive Service plays a critical role in every presidential transition, supporting and educating political appointees about how government works, and often temporarily serving in top agency jobs during the lengthy appointee confirmation and onboarding process. The article below describes the transition function of the SES.
Nearly 70% of SES Are About to Experience Their First Presidential Transition as Executives (Trump was elected)
The SES consists of men and women, noncareer and career officials, charged with leading the continuing transformation of government. SES officials are neither excepted nor competitive service appointments. SES appointees typically support officials with the implementation of current administration policies.
IN REALITY, THEY ARE TODAY ENTRENCHED BUREAUCRATIC PERSONNEL WHO DO THE BIDDING OF THE OBAMA-CLINTON REGIME AND THEIR GLOBALIST MASTERS.
The SES was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 as an Executive Branch personnel system. SES members serve in key positions, just below the top Presidential appointees, and are the major link between senior officials and the rest of the Federal workforce. The two types of SES positions are General, which can be filled by any type of appointment, and Career Reserved, which can be filled only by a career appointment.
The SES is a system in which salary and career status are personal rather than dependent on the position occupied.
There were 8,156 SES members in 2016. To see the evidence for those facts you can access the government’s official 2016 SES Report
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/
Excellent information. So why didn’t Trump get rid of the SES?
I don’t know. From the people who liked him I heard he listened to all sides made comments and asked questions then made decisions.
From those same or similar people I heard several times even his white house lawyers were blocking him and lying to him. I heard several people quoting what Trump said to them, like “Do you see what I have to put up with ?” after they all witnessed it and all knew he was being lied to.
So I suspect in many cases he tried to do something but those surrounding him told him he couldn’t, came up with excuses or delays, or were blocked by red tape in some other part of the bureaucracy.
I have no sense really how many actual allies he had to draw from, but a great sense there were many, many enemies, all the demoncrats and most of the republicans in any position elected appointed or bureaucracy.
Trump was going to cut and streamline the business of government. Remember his mention of the 5 billion dollar air force one – “That’s too much we are going to re-negotiate that”. Same problem the Democrat Governor in Illinois Blagogevich had – he came in and froze hiring and salaries across the board. He was an instant enemy and they eventually got him for nothing, literally claiming a giant crime spree was *about to happen*.
Trump pardoned him. Trump knew just like I did at the time.
For the same reason he did not get rid of the Davis Bacon Act when he said he was going to do it.
Amen, Sharon, we think alike. I am also 75, Vietnam Veteran, and have paid MY SHARE of income taxes over the years and continue to do so. I am sick of what we have left for our grandchildren. I only hope we get to the bottom of this Swamp and drain it. I like the idea of Wyoming for the FBI, or Kansas!
Big dog, the swamp is international.
Roberts is in charge of the FISA Court. Roberts refuses to act.
Roberts is limited to designating the rotating federal district court judges who sit on the FISC. .. and I agree he could/should do more to end this unconstitutional kangaroo court.
“The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established in 1978 when Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is codified, as amended, at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1885c. The Court sits in Washington D.C., and is composed of eleven federal district court judges who are designated by the Chief Justice of the United States. Each judge serves for a maximum of seven years and their terms are staggered to ensure continuity on the Court. By statute, the judges must be drawn from at least seven of the United States judicial circuits, and three of the judges must reside within 20 miles of the District of Columbia. Judges typically sit for one week at a time, on a rotating basis.
Pursuant to FISA, the Court entertains applications submitted by the United States Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes. Most of the Court’s work is conducted ex parte as required by statute, and due to the need to protect classified national security information. ”
* https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/about-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court
Either Wray is just as illiberal as the rest of the Administrative State, or the FBI is clearly too unwieldy for him to manage.
Or Wray is a bona fide dummy and he really has no idea what’s happening around him. And that is scary.
“HOSTIS PUBLICUS”
__________________
“Public Enemy No. 1”
Is that what the photo in the upper left corner of this article is?
It sure doesn’t look like Nero.
_______________________
Rome: the Republic and the Empire
The expression enemy of the people dates to Imperial Rome.[6] The Senate declared Emperor Nero a hostis publicus in AD 68.[7] Its direct translation is “public enemy”. Whereas “public” is currently used in English to describe something related to collectivity at large, with an implication towards government or the State, the Latin word “publicus” could, in addition to that meaning, also refer directly to people, making it the equivalent of the genitive of populus (“people”), populi (“popular” or “of the people”). Thus, “public enemy” and “enemy of the people” are, etymologically, near synonyms.
– Wikipedia
Wray was born on the 7th Floor.
Wray was not only steeped in the tyranny of the Global Communist Deep Deep State Swamp,
Wray IS the tyranny of the Global Communist Deep Deep State Swamp.
Through and through.
The only way to approve a reauthorization of FISA is to put some very strong enforcement guardrails with stiff penalties for any violations. Here a few to consider:
1. No inquiries unless user is identified and verified by third party and inquiry is preapproved in writing by senior personnel.
2. Independent third party must have authority in real time to oversee all inquiries.
3. Monthly certification and reporting of violations. Failure to timely certify will result in loss of FISA use.
4. Failure to report violation within 30 days will constitute a felony
5. Full time special council to bring charges for violations with limitation on discretion not to prosecute.
6. Loss of all government benefits (similar to court martial) and mandatory jail time for violations, including those who do not timely report violations
The only solution…TAKE AWAY Democrat power from DC
-Cut 50% of Fed gov
-Move 75% of DC to Heartland
-Remove entire leadership of DOJ, IRS, DHS and FBI
-5% tax Gross wall street trans & money goes offshore
-Tax all non-profits anyone gets $100k: colleges, hospitals, etc
-Ban fed aid/loans cities, states & college, make them fund themselves
-Remove tax credits renewables, affordable housing, etc
-Jail Russian Hoax, COVID liars & Biden protectors, etc
-Ban public union/company $ politics, only voters can fund politics
-voting 1 day, in person, with ID, I don’t care if you vote, I care if you cheat
– 12 year limit on federal office….judge, president, senate, congress
– Roundup all illegals to raise wages and give Americans Jobs
The entire communist American welfare state is unconstitutional including, but not limited to, matriculation affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HHS, HUD, EPA, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
Article 1, Section 8, provides Congress the power to tax ONLY for “…general (all, the whole) Welfare…,” omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for individual Welfare, specific Welfare, particular Welfare, favor or charity. The same article enumerates and provides Congress the power to regulate ONLY money, the “flow” of commerce, and land and naval Forces. Additionally, the 5th Amendment right to private property was initially qualified by the Framers and is, therefore, absolute, allowing no further qualification, and providing ONLY the owner the power to “claim and exercise” dominion over private property.
Government exists, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to provide maximal freedom to individuals while government is severely limited and restricted to merely facilitating that maximal freedom of individuals through the provision of security and infrastructure only.
Why should we be shocked and why should we expect anything less than partisan, prog/left ideologues to keep doing all that is necessary to complete their agenda of “fundamentally transforming” this nation. The only cure is the eradication of all such ideologues whose loyalty is not to We the People’s constitution but to their skewed beliefs at the expense of our freedoms and safe trust government. You can not easily remove these fanatic ideologically driven partisans.
We have to elect representatives and Senators who aren’t shy about impeachment judges whose decisions dubvert our Constitution and appointees who are pushing the Commie agenda. Even now the Biden administration with the complicity of DGS and Border Pareol are allowing untold thousands of unvetted illegal aliens into our country and not reporting this number. How many rterrorists are among them? And no one does anything. I’ve contacted my senators but my representative is a useless RINO.
DOJ….crooked
FDI…crooked
Much of the Judiciary…crooked
EPA…crooked
DHS…crooked
IRS…crooked
DOT…crooked
DC…crooked
I am seeing a pattern
Our problem is not identifying the problem, it is blatantly in front of us daily on the news; our problem is solving this mess and we have become aware that talking about it, suing agencies about it, voting against it, has yielded little to no solutions. What we should/must do is realize just what will solve this potentially lethal situation in order to save this nation and its core culture.
Dear Prof Turley,
One has to wonder if the chief justice of the FISC is against it, who is for it?
*who is the ‘U.S. Senator’ this kangaroo court surveilled .. . if you don’t mind me asking.
my question is why “republicans” continue to FUND the DC Criminal Democrat Mafia!
Very Clear that the DOJ and FBI are in league with the Fascist Democrats
Sharon, I am 72 years young, and I agree with you. I have had it with the FBI. Since Watergate, the FBI was shown that it could not be trusted and with Comey and his crew being the worst.. Wray wants to be the most mistrusted government official in Washington for some reason. Move the FBI out of Washington DC and not to Virginia. My vote is to Wyoming. .
Wyoming has my vote. Time to bite the head off the snake.
Our government is supposed to operate and function according to our constitution. Sure looks like one big fraud to me.
There mostly good and selfless government employees that work in these agencies, but 100% of them take a constitutional Oath if Office to NOT violate anyone’s constitutional rights or violate the Constitution itself. The U.S. Constitution is also a wartime governing charter.
Our intelligence and security agencies’ job (and authority) is to protect us within “constitutional” boundaries. In American government the ends don’t justify unconstitutional-means.
In correct…if you work there and SEE crime…and don’t stop it…you are JUST AS BAD!
100% of people KNOW that the Bidens and ALL Democrats are a Criminal Conspiracy!
This isn’t politics…this is Fascism…because Big Business….has joined the Conspiracy!
“There mostly good and selfless government employees that work in these agencies” Can you provide any specific proof, other than wishful thinking, that this is true? Remember, we blindly trusted out public school systems until we realized that we shouldn’t have. Are we doing the same with other government agencies? I think we already know the answer, no matter what you may personally think, most lucrative government employees will protect their jobs before defending the constitution. Look what it took to get just 2 IRS agents to blow the whistle on what has been almost a decade of peering into the biden crime family – I doubt if these “good and selfless” employees were ever motivated to come forward way back then when it could have changed an election etc.
These are extraordinary authorities, and so they require extraordinary control and accountability.
Dear Director Wray,
I know you’re concentrating on, and consumed with, all the Trump monkey Apostle indictments going around. Must be a 100 Trump indictments on the wall. Take one down, pass it around, 99 Trump indictments on the wall.
You can never investigate a twice impeached, 3 Special Counsel probes, publicly media-ridiculed Trump monkey enough, I say. There is only the Trump monkey MAGA hats and aught else beside them. A direct threat to freedom, democracy and vital U.S. national security concerns!
The next President of these United States, lord hope it be a SANE person, should grant the Trump monkey Apostle, and all his MAGA hat devotees, some kind dispensation – a pardon of sorts – for exposing this ‘two tired system of justice’.
It’s really sad to admit I no longer trust any government agency or branch. The abuses are countless, as are the lies that accompany them. I’m 75 years old and no longer hope for honest government or actors in those roles within.
1992 Ruby Ridge Idaho siege, 1993 Waco Tx siege, 1996 Richard Jewell / Olympic Games, 2000 Cuban child Elian Gonzalez raid on Good Friday!, FBI Agent Robert Hanssen spied on behalf of Russia for 15 years, Mar-a-Lago raid, labeling parents as terrorists, staking Roman Catholics in their churches in Richmond, VA, raiding the homes Pro-Life Christians, allowing SCOTUS Justice to be intimidated at their homes and children’s schools, etc. Attorney General Janet Reno looked incredibly weak and like a pawn of the Executive Bill Clinton, with her FBI Director Louis Freeh resigning early in disgrace in 2001. Yet, 30 years later after the Ruby Ridge/Waco fiascos, Janet Reno looks virile compared to Merrick Garland and Louis Freeh a man of impecable character compared to Christopher Wray
We are all disgusted with the Feds.