It's irrelevant. If there is a recognized civil right that is being violated, then 18 USC 241/242 apply, regardless of other legislation.

As I see it, every agency that has a hand in the domestic surveillance programs detailed by Snowden is in violation of Federal law, and yes these are felonies. From Title 18 of the United States Code:

241. If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

242. Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

The judges know that a true adversarial process is not on the table - and never will be. They aren't calling for real reform. Mostly they are worried about their workload. This is all spelled out in the actual document which you can get here They don't want an advocate or adversarial process, because it wouldn't change anything.

Here is the full quote: "The participation of a privacy advocate is unnecessary and could prove counterproductive in the vast majority of FISA matters, which involve the application of a probable cause or other factual standard to case-specific facts and typically implicate the privacy interests of few persons other than the specific target. Given the nature of FISA proceedings, the participation of an advocate would neither create a truly adversarial process nor constructively assist the Court in assessing the facts, as the advocate would be unable to communicate with the target or conduct an independent investigation. Advocate involvement in run-of-the-mill FISA matters would substantially hamper the work of the Courts without providing any commensurate benefit in terms of privacy protection or otherwise; indeed, such pervasive participation could actually undermine the Courts' ability to receive complete and accurate information on the matters before them."

Of course, we already know the courts are not getting complete and accurate information, and they rubber-stamp orders anyway.

I read not only the summary, but actual articles. It's still worth having a devil's advocate arguing with the evidence presented.

A federal judge will never go to prison for rendering judgments favorable to the administration.

Soap box, ballot box, jury box... all have been subverted or suppressed to the point of failure. Massive protests? We had some a couple years ago, they were shut down by riot police. Elections are subverted by the money and connections necessary to get your name on a ballot. The jury box is of little utility. The role of a jury today is lessened from what it once was. The DoJ is more interested in prosecuting whistle-blowers while declining to prosecute bankers or even investigate documented illegal acts within the Executive branch, past and present. Hell, Holder even thinks he can justify extra-judicial killings of Americans.

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe

The "awkward stage" ends when the populace is more concerned with civil rights than American Idol. I don't see that happening yet. It might be possible to reign in some abusive practices without violence, but the more time passes the more difficult that will be.

If they're against an adversarial process, that suggests that the FISA court is not a neutral party. While I agree that it is inadequate, a third-party advocate for civil liberties would be better than the nothing that we have at the moment.

I'm suspicious of an advocate chosen by the court. Fox guarding the henhouse?

Then again, I'm also suspicious of secret court proceedings.

Nice attempt to spin the story, but nothing indicates that it jammed because of his "haste". He did manage to change magazines. Those magazines tend to cause jams because of the forces involved with the long spring. Lives were spared because he used an extended magazine.

Reloading with a magazine takes almost no time... well under a second If you are competent. At Columbine, Sandy Hook and VA tech the shooters reloaded many times, and nobody stopped them.

Incorrect; in Tucson, the gun jammed because he was using an unreliable extended magazine.

I'm not aware of any mass shooting incidents where reloading provided sufficient opportunity to physically stop the shooter.

From an LA Times article:

The protections afforded by the Bill of Rights are not open to re-interpretation by Congress or any other ballot box, except for a 2/3 majority (of either both houses of Congress, or the state legislatures) followed by ratification by 3/4 of the states. That has not occurred, and it will not in the forseeable future.

And if you think defense against tyranny is not a recognized purpose of the 2nd amendment, you should go and read Scalia's DC v Heller opinion again; not just the syllabus.

Obligatory xkcd

The reason some studies find that not owning a gun makes you safer is because approximately 3/4 of violent crime in the US is perpetrated by people with multiple felony convictions, upon other violent people with multiple felony convictions. Statistically speaking, the scenarioes you describe are mostly insignificant.

Suicides are modestly significant, but pills and alcohol work just fine for that, too.

I see no reason for your claim of illegitimacy. Virtually every civilized society recognizes violent force used in self-defense as legitimate. Firearms are essentially the "power tools" of weaponry, which makes them particularly useful because they level the field between people of disparate size and strength -- and that makes them the most effective means of self defense. Rural or urban locale is irrelevant; arguably defensive tools are more necessary in urban areas where virtually everyone is a stranger.

If firearms were not legitimate tools of self-defense, then police would not carry guns.

Think on this: what if that robber 10 years ago had wanted more than your cash and cell phone? What could you have done? Your experience is a perfect example of the futility of gun control laws. Canada has very strict regulation of handguns... yet the robber had one anyway, and you were at his mercy.

As for the violence rates in America, they are comparable to Canada or Europe if you exclude gang and drug-infested inner-city areas. Canada and Europe don't have the same demographic diversity. The violence problem in America has nothing to do with the availability of guns (violence rates are worst in the areas where guns are most heavily regulated), it is primarily socioeconomic and cultural.

The founders' opinions are important because they inform us as to the meaning of the Constitution. And the Constitution is important because it defines the federal government. It has an amendment process that has been used 27 times, so it has been re-written to some degree.

For the most part, the Constitution is not ambiguous. For example, the famous controversies in interpretation of the 2nd amendment and the privileges or immunities clause of the 14th amendment arose because certain people did not like the plain meaning of the text. The meanings were clear to the people who wrote and passed those sections. The intent can be unambiguously determined by examining the debates surrounding their passage. The 2nd amendment was intended to protect an individual right to own and carry military-grade weapons in public. The privileges or immunities clause was supposed to prevent states from violating rights enshrined in the Constitution. Both clauses have been twisted to entirely different and illogical meanings by judges who didn't like the original intent.

That is why the original meaning is important. The purpose of the document lies in semantics. If you don't respect the original intent, then you're changing the semantics and you might as well re-write the document. That's why there is an amendment process.

The Constitution is not perfect, but it is a very well thought-out document. There were several novel and ingenious aspects to the government it created. One particularly good idea was to enumerate all activities permitted to the government, rather than attempt to enumerate prohibitions. This was intended to preserve liberty by limiting the role of government. Unfortunately the narrow scope of enumerated powers has failed to limit the role of the federal government, but the failure was not necessarily in the Constitution itself; the boundaries have simply been ignored.

That is why some Americans seem to worship the Constitution. The government has steadily usurped powers that it was not supposed to have, and whittled away at all manner of guaranteed individual rights. If we did things the "right" way by strictly following the Constitution, American society would be very different and some people might prefer that. (There would also be drawbacks. I tend to like this idea, but some amendments would be necessary.)

Consider this: in the founders' time, there were no income taxes or professional police departments. The federal government was originally oriented toward matters of foreign policy, and revenue was provided by tariffs. The founders probably would have considered modern policing to be similar to the standing armies that they feared as instruments of oppression. And nobody would have thought the federal government could restrict the plants that people grow on their own land, the food they eat or sell locally, or the weapons they carry when traveling.

George Washington's cabinet had what, 4 members? Contrast that with modern times.