The good news, as the Globe reports today, is that this real-life fiasco has just resulted in two provisions of the Patriot Act being ruled unconstitutional. The essential problem is that the Patriot Act allows for surveillance and searches without the the “probable cause” requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
Hopefully the same thing will ultimately happen to the so-called Protect America Act, which Congress passed last month.
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I know there are more than a couple lawyers here… What does this mean going forward? Is this the equivilent of a “cease and desist”? Does the Patriot act need to go back to congress? Or does it change nothing other than to set precedent and give legal recourse to those whose rights have been violated?
The NYT has more analysis on this today.
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The ruling probably won’t have an immediate effect on enforcement of the Patriot Act, but it’s an important step in the process.