Larry Klayman
NSA spy case heats up!
By Larry Klayman
On Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2014, the individual Government Defendants, Barack H. Obama, Eric H. Holder, Keith B. Alexander, Roger Vinson, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Security Agency (NSA), in our initial lawsuit over the NSA spying on the American people – the one that produced a great victory last December when Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that President Obama and the NSA had egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment and the U.S. Constitution – presented me and the other plaintiffs with the gift that may keep on giving. In response to a court order issued about 10 days earlier, wherein Judge Leon testily told the Obama Justice Department lawyers to get the show on the road and finally file an answer to the complaint as they were in default for not having responded timely, President Obama's lawyers stonewalled the judge in the answer they later filed on the day reserved for love, not obstruction of justice.
In this answer, the Obama Justice Department told the judge that President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA Director Keith Alexander and other collaborators in the NSA's illegal spying scandal are above the law and did not need to respond, claiming falsely that they were never served with the complaint. Remarkable as it may sound, the Obama Justice Department and its clients obviously feel that they are a privileged class – free to lie to a court or Congress whenever it suits their interests.
But when it comes to the NSA and its enablers, this is nothing new. The agency and the so-called intelligence community as a whole have racked up quite a record of deceit and outright lying to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Congress, where James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, got caught perjuring himself, claiming that the NSA does not spy on American citizens if they have no connection to terrorism. Of course, given Congress' impotence if not outright lack of courage, Clapper was not held accountable for these lies. But in front of Judge Leon, a valiant courageous man and judge, they may have met someone who will finally have them account for their lies and criminality.
As set forth in a motion I filed last Thursday, titled "Motion for Entry of Default (Judgment) and To Strike Defendants' Answer to Third Amended Complaint":
"The Obama Justice Department is playing its usual game, which has been to try to delay, obstruct and throw a monkey wrench into every aspect of this case, which the Court has observed is a matter of 'pinnacle' national importance.
"It thus stands to reason given the Court's preliminary injunction order of December 16, 2013, which finds a clear cut violation of the Fourth Amendment concerning the unconstitutional collection of telephonic metadata, that not only a default judgment be entered, but that the Court enter judgment on liability against all of the individual Government Defendants pursuant to FRCP Rule 55(a) and 55(b), particularly given the flouting of this Court's process. The issue of damages alleged against the individual Government Defendants can be tried later before the jury, after the parties have the opportunity to take discovery on damages."
The reason President Obama and the other individual Government Defendants are liable individually for their illegal unconstitutional acts stems from the landmark Supreme Court case of Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), which also involved the Fourth Amendment. As also pointed out to the Court in my motion:
"Indeed, the individual Government Defendants ... are liable for their tortious, unconstitutional acts under Bivens. The Supreme Court held in that case that a violation of the Fourth Amendment's command against unreasonable searches and seizures by a federal agent acting under color of federal authority – precisely what is occurring now by Government Defendants – gives rise to a federal cause of action for damages as a consequence of the agent's unconstitutional conduct. Specifically, the Court ruled '... petitioner is entitled to recover money damages for any injuries he has suffered as a result of the agents' violation of the Amendment.'"
As a result of the Supreme Court Bivens' precedent, the real possibility exists, whether or not Judge Leon enters a default judgment at this time on liability, that when our case is tried Obama and the other individual Government Defendants will be socked by a jury for huge monetary damages, in addition to the injunction that we have already obtained to stop the outrageous spying by the NSA.
In addition to our request that Judge Leon enter judgment for liability now against Obama and the other individual Government Defendants, my motion also seeks to strike, as lawyers say, their answer of the non-individual Government Defendants, which are the NSA and the Justice Department, which signs off on the illegal spy programs through the certifications of Attorney General Eric Holder. The reason for this aspect of our motion is because the Obama Justice Department only answered that part of our complaint that suited them and withheld information, on the bogus claims of national security. So what I asked Judge Leon to do was to require the Obama Justice Department to submit two answers, one that is for the public to see and one that would be submitted to the court in camera, that is for only the judge to see at this stage since he has a security clearance. As the judge is an honest man, I trust that he would "do the right thing" with this so-called national security information. My goal is to move our case into the discovery phase and then to trial as soon as possible.
For it is important that all matters involving the illegal NSA spy programs be litigated to a successful conclusion as soon as possible, as this most egregious violation of the citizenry's rights in American history must be stopped immediately. And, indeed this is our mission, and this is why we have asked the Supreme Court to affirm Judge Leon's Dec. 16, 2013, preliminary injunction order at this time.
Each day our constitutional rights continue to be violated is one day too many. It is time to wage a legal revolution, and the case before Judge Leon is just one of the tools that must be used to end the tyranny of President Obama, his NSA henchmen and others in both political parties who have sold We the People out to the devil of government corruption and subjugation.
© Larry Klayman
On Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2014, the individual Government Defendants, Barack H. Obama, Eric H. Holder, Keith B. Alexander, Roger Vinson, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Security Agency (NSA), in our initial lawsuit over the NSA spying on the American people – the one that produced a great victory last December when Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that President Obama and the NSA had egregiously violated the Fourth Amendment and the U.S. Constitution – presented me and the other plaintiffs with the gift that may keep on giving. In response to a court order issued about 10 days earlier, wherein Judge Leon testily told the Obama Justice Department lawyers to get the show on the road and finally file an answer to the complaint as they were in default for not having responded timely, President Obama's lawyers stonewalled the judge in the answer they later filed on the day reserved for love, not obstruction of justice.
In this answer, the Obama Justice Department told the judge that President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA Director Keith Alexander and other collaborators in the NSA's illegal spying scandal are above the law and did not need to respond, claiming falsely that they were never served with the complaint. Remarkable as it may sound, the Obama Justice Department and its clients obviously feel that they are a privileged class – free to lie to a court or Congress whenever it suits their interests.
But when it comes to the NSA and its enablers, this is nothing new. The agency and the so-called intelligence community as a whole have racked up quite a record of deceit and outright lying to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Congress, where James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, got caught perjuring himself, claiming that the NSA does not spy on American citizens if they have no connection to terrorism. Of course, given Congress' impotence if not outright lack of courage, Clapper was not held accountable for these lies. But in front of Judge Leon, a valiant courageous man and judge, they may have met someone who will finally have them account for their lies and criminality.
As set forth in a motion I filed last Thursday, titled "Motion for Entry of Default (Judgment) and To Strike Defendants' Answer to Third Amended Complaint":
"The Obama Justice Department is playing its usual game, which has been to try to delay, obstruct and throw a monkey wrench into every aspect of this case, which the Court has observed is a matter of 'pinnacle' national importance.
"It thus stands to reason given the Court's preliminary injunction order of December 16, 2013, which finds a clear cut violation of the Fourth Amendment concerning the unconstitutional collection of telephonic metadata, that not only a default judgment be entered, but that the Court enter judgment on liability against all of the individual Government Defendants pursuant to FRCP Rule 55(a) and 55(b), particularly given the flouting of this Court's process. The issue of damages alleged against the individual Government Defendants can be tried later before the jury, after the parties have the opportunity to take discovery on damages."
The reason President Obama and the other individual Government Defendants are liable individually for their illegal unconstitutional acts stems from the landmark Supreme Court case of Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), which also involved the Fourth Amendment. As also pointed out to the Court in my motion:
"Indeed, the individual Government Defendants ... are liable for their tortious, unconstitutional acts under Bivens. The Supreme Court held in that case that a violation of the Fourth Amendment's command against unreasonable searches and seizures by a federal agent acting under color of federal authority – precisely what is occurring now by Government Defendants – gives rise to a federal cause of action for damages as a consequence of the agent's unconstitutional conduct. Specifically, the Court ruled '... petitioner is entitled to recover money damages for any injuries he has suffered as a result of the agents' violation of the Amendment.'"
As a result of the Supreme Court Bivens' precedent, the real possibility exists, whether or not Judge Leon enters a default judgment at this time on liability, that when our case is tried Obama and the other individual Government Defendants will be socked by a jury for huge monetary damages, in addition to the injunction that we have already obtained to stop the outrageous spying by the NSA.
In addition to our request that Judge Leon enter judgment for liability now against Obama and the other individual Government Defendants, my motion also seeks to strike, as lawyers say, their answer of the non-individual Government Defendants, which are the NSA and the Justice Department, which signs off on the illegal spy programs through the certifications of Attorney General Eric Holder. The reason for this aspect of our motion is because the Obama Justice Department only answered that part of our complaint that suited them and withheld information, on the bogus claims of national security. So what I asked Judge Leon to do was to require the Obama Justice Department to submit two answers, one that is for the public to see and one that would be submitted to the court in camera, that is for only the judge to see at this stage since he has a security clearance. As the judge is an honest man, I trust that he would "do the right thing" with this so-called national security information. My goal is to move our case into the discovery phase and then to trial as soon as possible.
For it is important that all matters involving the illegal NSA spy programs be litigated to a successful conclusion as soon as possible, as this most egregious violation of the citizenry's rights in American history must be stopped immediately. And, indeed this is our mission, and this is why we have asked the Supreme Court to affirm Judge Leon's Dec. 16, 2013, preliminary injunction order at this time.
Each day our constitutional rights continue to be violated is one day too many. It is time to wage a legal revolution, and the case before Judge Leon is just one of the tools that must be used to end the tyranny of President Obama, his NSA henchmen and others in both political parties who have sold We the People out to the devil of government corruption and subjugation.
© Larry Klayman
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