Comment Re:When the cat's absent, the mice rejoice (Score 1) 286
The dissenting judge disagrees with the majority opinion. It is ridiculous to use the dissenting opinion to explain the majority opinion. Agent Logan was legally able to perform what would normally be an Unconstitutional search when the search was restricted to military personnel only. I said your common sense should have told you that military personal don't have the same Constitutional rights as normal citizens. I also provided a link to a page that described this in detail. Therefore your insinuation that I was relying solely on common sense is another fabrication. If you disagree and think that military personnel have the same Constitutional rights as normal citizens, fine, let's discuss it. But don't insinuate I was relying on common sense when I provided a link (and you could just as easily use Google to get the same results).
Regardless of which laws were used by the defense to throw out the results of a search that was clearly Unconstitutional [see below], the following facts remain:
- Military personnel have almost no rights regarding search and seizure.
- Agent Logan used these same standards to search "all computers in the state of Washington" without probable cause or a warrant.
- The majority opinion said there was a need to deter future violations because there was evidence of widespread and repeated violations. (For goodness sake, the government was arguing it had a right to perform such massive searches. If they eventually prevail is it conceivable that they would stop conducting such searches?).
- Your statement "the evidence was thrown out because a military investigator found the material" implies that if someone who was not in the military had performed the search then it would have been legal.
The fundamental question is whether the US Government has the right to search all of the computers in the United States without a warrant and without probable cause. The majority ruled they do not. The choice to use the Posse Comitatus Act was made by the defense attorneys, not the judges. It is usually much cheaper to avoid arguing things on Constitutional grounds. But the use of the PCA by the defense does not at all imply that no Constitutional rights were violated.
It boggles my mind that anyone would honestly think such a search was Constitutional as long as it was performed by non-military personnel. What possible use is the 4th Amendment if such searches were legal? If you really want to argue that such a broad search of normal people would be Constitutional then let's do it. Don't hide behind implications and insinuations.