Judge orders Google to comply with FBI's secret NSL demands

Re:Judge orders Google to comply with FBI's secret NSL demands by rayiner on Friday May 31, 2013 @08:20PM (#5802017)

> Judges don't wake up in the morning and say, "Well, I would like to do the right thing and declare this surveillance unconstitutional, but there was that Brown v. Board of Education sixty years ago, and so I'm going to punt!"

Sure, but there is definitely a "mood" in the judiciary. If you read opinions from today versus those in say the 1970's, you can definitely see a self-concious deference to the political branches that didn't exist back then. E.g. compare the D.C. Circuit of the 1960's to the current one.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Judge orders Google to comply with FBI's secret NSL demands by declan on Saturday June 01, 2013 @01:09AM (#5802796)

You might be right. Or at least I'm not saying you're wrong. But do you have any cites that compare then-vs-now?

In reality the DC Circuit spends much of its time today striking down regulations enacted by the political branches, and actually takes some glee in doing so. In HNesque areas, the court tossed out the Net neutrality regulations and the broadcast flag regulations. There's a reason the president wants to tilt the makeup of that court.

[ Parent | on HN ]