memeorandum: ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NSA Phone Spying Program (Skip Navigation/ACLU)

5:50 PM ET, June 11, 2013

Top Items:

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Solitary Leaker — From what we know so far, Edward Snowden appears to be the ultimate unmediated man. Though obviously terrifically bright, he could not successfully work his way through the institution of high school. Then he failed to navigate his way through community college.

ABCNEWS:

Transcript: Exclusive Interview With House Speaker John Boehner on NSA Leak, Immigration Reform And More — House Speaker John Boehner sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on “Good Moring America” to discuss the NSA leak, immigration reform, the IRS scandal and much more.

Discussion: The Plum Line, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, The Caucus, National Review, The Maddow Blog, ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and Speaker.gov

Yahoo! News:

Lindsey Graham: ‘If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it’ — Sen. Lindsey Graham would propose censoring Americans' ‘snail’ mail if he thought it would help protect national security, the South Carolina Republican said Tuesday. But for now, he says he doesn't think it's necessary.

Discussion: Hot Air, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, Macleans.ca, The Atlantic Wire and New York Times

Philip Ewing / Politico:

Booz Allen fires Edward Snowden, says they didn't pay him $200K — Consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton has fired Edward Snowden, the computer technician who acknowledged leaking classified documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post, the company announced.

Discussion: en.ria.ru, Washington Free Beacon, Wall Street Journal and Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

Snowden, Facing Charges, Leaves Hong Kong Hotel — WASHINGTON — As Justice Department officials began the process Monday to charge Edward J. Snowden, a 29-year-old former C.I.A. computer technician, with disclosing classified information, he checked out of a hotel in Hong Kong where he had been holed …

Discussion: Above the Law, The Daily Caller, RT, ProfessorBainbridge.com, BBC and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Cole Premo / CBS Minnesota:
Franken ‘Very Well Aware Of’ NSA Tracking Phone Records

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Washington Free Beacon, JONATHAN TURLEY and Booman Tribune

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:
Russia Says It Would Consider Asylum For Edward Snowden

Discussion: WorldViews and The Week

Roger Simon / Politico:
The slacker who came in from the cold

Discussion: Hit & Run, Washington Post, Hot Air and Mediaite

Los Angeles Times:
Analyst overstated claims on NSA leaks, experts say

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, BobCesca.com, CNN, The Hinterland Gazette, The Hill, New York Times, Lawfare, Washington Post and Patterico's Pontifications, more at Mediagazer »

Miriam Elder / Guardian:
Edward Snowden: Russia offers to consider asylum request

Discussion: Reuters, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, WorldViews, Wonkblog, The Great Debate, CNN, American Power, Business Insider, KALW, Bradley Manning Support …, Yahoo! News, Taylor Marsh, Althouse, Conservatives4Palin, The Gateway Pundit, The Spectacle Blog, The Hinterland Gazette and The PJ Tatler

Washington Post:
In NSA programs, democracy works in secret

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, The Raw Story and emptywheel

Abby D. Phillip / ABCNEWS:
House Speaker John Boehner: NSA Leaker a ‘Traitor’

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS, New York Times, Yahoo! News, The Hinterland Gazette, CNN, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Shakesville, U.S. News, The Hill, Daily Mail and Business Insider

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
The T-Word — So now both Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairman …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, US News and The Dish

The Official Google Blog:

Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish more national security request data — This morning we sent the following letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Read the full text below. -Ed. — Dear Attorney General Holder and Director Mueller

Discussion: New York Times, Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, TalkLeft, TechCrunch, The Raw Story, Gawker, KALW, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Guardian, AllThingsD, Wired, Business Insider, The Verge, Mashable, The Daily Caller, emptywheel and Taking Note, more at Mediagazer »

ACLU:

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging NSA's Patriot Act Phone Surveillance — In the wake of the past week's revelations about the NSA's unprecedented mass surveillance of phone calls, today the ACLU filed a lawsuit charging that the program violates Americans' constitutional rights of free speech, association, and privacy.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Next Web, CBS DC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Forbes

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

A.C.L.U. Files Suit Over Phone Surveillance Program — WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its “dragnet” collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program — whose existence …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, The Political Carnival, KALW, Infowars and Wired

Skip Navigation / ACLU:

ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NSA Phone Spying Program — The ACLU, a Verizon Customer, Says Government Data Collection Violates Its First and Fourth Amendment Rights — NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed …

Discussion: Mashable and TalkLeft

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

ACLU files lawsuit over NSA call tracking — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the telephone call-tracking system disclosed via a leak last week violates the Constitution. — The suit, claiming First and Fourth Amendment violations …

Jeff Merkley:
Senators: End Secret Law

Discussion: Guardian, Electronic Frontier Foundation, ThinkProgress, Wired, Taylor Marsh, PoliticusUSA, Yahoo! News, Hot Air, Daily Kos, The Verge, Liberal Values and emptywheel

Rand Paul / Wall Street Journal:
Big Brother Really Is Watching Us

Discussion: Right Turn, msnbc.com, VodkaPundit, Connecting.the.Dots and American Power

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Kelly Ayotte, GOP star, changes mind on immigration … Immigration wasn't the main issue in the 2010 New Hampshire Senate race. But it was a topic of great interest for many Republican voters, and GOP candidate Kelly Ayotte took a pretty hard line. — Rather than calling …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Tough immigration choice for GOP

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Red Alert Politics and Booman Tribune

CNN:
Senate to debate immigration

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Yahoo! News, Daily Kos, Politico and The PJ Tatler

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:
Durbin: FISA declassification bill dead on arrival

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Plum Line and Mediaite

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Wake Up! — In 2007, John McCain's “comprehensive” …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and JustOneMinute

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Senate votes 82-15 in first step to debate immigration reform

Discussion: Politico, Conservatives4Palin, The Gateway Pundit and Power Line

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

U.S. disrupts al-Qaeda's online magazine — U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the group's followers, according to officials. — The operation succeeded, at least temporarily …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, WorldViews, The Jawa Report, Business Insider, Booman Tribune, NO QUARTER USA NET, Poynter, The PJ Tatler and Hullabaloo

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Leaks fallout: How bad could it be?

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, The Week, americanthinker.com and The Huffington Post

New York Post:

Hillary's sorry state of affairs — Probes into her department's sex scandals were quashed, memo says — WASHINGTON — A State Department whistleblower has accused high-ranking staff of a massive coverup — including keeping a lid on findings that members of then-Secretary Hillary Clinton's security detail …

Discussion: Power Line, The Hill, americanthinker.com, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and Washington Free Beacon

Matthew DeLuca / U.S. News:
Ambassador responds to allegations of misconduct from State Department memo

Discussion: Foreign Policy and Business Insider

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Former President George W. Bush's Image Ratings Improve — Views of Bush more positive than negative for first time since 2005 — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' views of former president George W. Bush have improved, with 49% now viewing him favorably and 46% unfavorably.

Discussion: The Hill, Taegan Goddard's …, Post Politics and CNN

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

The New York Times takes down Anthony Weiner story — The New York Times “inadvertently” posted an article on the women involved in Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal — and then deleted it. — “For Women in Weiner Scandal, Indignity Lingers” by Michael Barbaro was posted on the Times's website Monday …

Discussion: Capital New York, Macleans.ca, Yahoo! News and The Atlantic Wire

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:
The New York Times Inadvertently Posts a Weiner Sexting Story Online

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Public Editor's Journal and Capital New York

CNN:

Tear gas, fireworks: Chaos in Istanbul as police drive out protesters — From Nick Paton Walsh and Gul Tuysuz, CNN … Istanbul (CNN) — A central square in Istanbul erupted Tuesday night in an unsettling, chaotic chorus, with tear gas canisters and water cannons from police met by fireworks …

Discussion: BBC, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers and Taylor Marsh

Rebecca J. Rosen / The Atlantic Online:

Why Should We Even Care If the Government Is Collecting Our Data? — Kafka, not Orwell, can help us understand the problems of digitized mass surveillance, argues legal scholar Daniel J. Solove. — As people have tried to make sense of the recent revelations about the government's mass …

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Mashable and New Republic

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

What to Make of a Warming Plateau — As unlikely as this may sound, we have lucked out in recent years when it comes to global warming. — The rise in the surface temperature of earth has been markedly slower over the last 15 years than in the 20 years before that.