Some Justice (Good News from the Federal Courts)

After an appalling week of Supreme Court decisions (see here and here), a US District Court decided to allow David House, a friend of Bradley Manning and a co-founder of The Bradley Manning Support Network, to continue with his lawsuit against the government and rebuked the government's request to have the lawsuit thrown out of court for national security reasons.

The background of the case is as follows; David House, a US Citizen, has been stopped by the Department of Homeland Security several times when he has returned this country.  During one of these stops, DHS agents repeatedly asked him about his political beliefs, specifically relating to his work with the The Bradley Manning Support Network, and confiscated his laptop, zip-drive, and cellphone, all without a warrant.  After seven weeks, he finally had his property returned to him, with the government saying that it took much longer than it had anticipated because their agents were unfamiliar with the computer's operating system.

At no time during this ordeal has the government accused David House of any criminal activity.  Even during Houses questioning by DHS agents, the government was only concerned about his involvement in a group whose aim was to raise money for Bradley Manning's defense and speak out against Manning's detainment.  Both of those aims fall well under the protection of the First Amendment.  Any person with a basic understanding of constitutional law and relevant Supreme Court precedent knows that the government is not allowed to punish people for political speech.  Unfortunately, Obama's Department of Justice, much like his predecessor's, just clearly does not give a shit about constitutional rights.  Especially when the can easily scream "Terrorism" and hope that federal judges decide to throw the case out of the courts.

Andrew Rosenthal has a good summary of why this case is important:

From the use of customs as a pawn in what is obviously a political game, to the seizure of Mr. House’s computer devices, this is an outrageous abuse of power. But the government didn’t think Mr. House deserved even a day in court. It demanded that the court dismiss Mr. House’s claims that the search and seizure violated his Fourth and First Amendment rights.

The court said Mr. House had a legitimate claim concerning the 49-day delay in returning his property. And it granted him the chance to argue that the entire search and confiscation was based solely on his association with the Bradley Manning Support group, and therefore violated his First Amendment rights. 

Judge Casper did the right thing by assessing this case on its merits, and not on the propaganda of fear that has dominated the national security debate since Sept. 11, 2001.

Even if David House loses his case, the fact that the District Court allowed him to proceed may give House the opportunity to know what, if anything, that the government copied and saved from his digital devices.  I doubt this single case will do much to stop the security state's chicanery, but hopefully it wills start to develop more press coverage and attention on how the security state has co-opted both political parties into violating the constitutional rights of its citizens.