I must confess I was incredibly amused every time they used "technically violated", "technical violation" or other euphemisms for breaking the law. They either followed the law or they broke it and should face the appropriate punishment (if any).

It just strikes me like the author is trying to minimize the impact by appealing to the use of technicality as "only appealing to a specialist" or in this case some "legalist". It's a disservice to the protection of civil liberties by minimizing the importance of crimes committed against said liberties.