US Department of Justice Argues Assange Has No First Amendment Rights

Re:US Department of Justice Argues Assange Has No First Amen... by shadowgovt on Friday January 24, 2020 @10:49AM (#22139236)

There's a strong Constitutional construction argument that argues the Constitution applies to all people regardless of citizenship if the government intends to put legal binding upon them and we are not in a state of war.

But I believe the US executive branch has not ascribed to that legal philosophy since at least George W. Bush's presidency.

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Re:US Department of Justice Argues Assange Has No First Amen... by AndrewKemendo on Friday January 24, 2020 @11:27AM (#22139651)

I think that's a good argument, but I'm not a lawyer, I just know that the Rules Of Engagement for military members extended the spirit of the constitution, to how we were supposed to interact with the local population in Iraq.

In Assange's case though I don't see how the First Amendment will help here, as the charge is "Conspiracy to commit Computer Intrusion." I don't think the district court is making a case about whether Assange has the right to publish data freely.

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Re:US Department of Justice Argues Assange Has No First Amen... by Isamu on Friday January 24, 2020 @11:04AM (#22139397)

Agreed, many of the rights described were once considered the "natural" rights of man, not granted, and I thought the language clearly demonstrated that main concern was with restricting the power of government from denying those rights.

Not everybody believes in rights that are not granted, so I think the view that these rights only applied to citizens was always around, but yes, 9/11 did provide added motivation to deny rights to non-citizens.

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