Dave2 wrote:Charles L. Cotton wrote:bdickens wrote:I know of none, but the damage is done already.
That's right, no case has even been filed, much less reached the Supreme Court, so there was absolutely no basis for your comment.
No damage has been done re: NRA membership material -- the subject matter of this thread.
Chas.
I think his point is that, AFAIK, the courts can only react to lawsuits or charges filed after the fact... They can't prevent the damage from being done in the first place.
Precisely. And Mr. Cotton knows that better than I.
There was absolutely a basis for my comment. Mr. Cotton remarked that the Supreme Court would prevent the .gov from illegally seizing the NRA's database and using that info against gun owners.
I simply pointed out in my typically snide manner that SCOTUS didn't prevent the NSA from illegally monitoring the telephone activities of millions of Americans. Nor, for that matter, has SCOTUS prevented any of the numerous other blatantly illegal and Unconstitutional things that the .gov has done.
Nor can they.
As was rightly pointed out, no lawsuit has been brought yet. Maybe there will be. There certainly
should be. And years and years down the road, it may wind it's way around to SCOTUS. And they may or may not decide that the .gov was a bad boy and order them to stop.
And then, the .gov may or may not stop (Texas' voter ID law anyone?).
In the meantime, through all the years that this gets hashed out in the courts, the .gov, through a rogue organization that operates essentially without any oversight as to their activities (yeah, I know, there is
supposed to be oversight), continues to blatantly violate the privacy of its subjects - I mean, citizens - under the supposed guise of protecting them from terrorists.
The damage is done. This massive invasion of privacy might be able to be stopped from continuing, but it can't be undone any more than you can get your virginity back.