The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle is hearing two cases today involving the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.

Two cases involving widespread warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the National Security Agency will face a major hurdle Wednesday in a federal appeals court in Seattle. A procedural hearing will be held to determine whether actions by the NSA and AT&T, which cooperated with the agency, can be challenged in court.

The first case is Hepting v. AT&T:

The lawsuit claims that AT&T violated the privacy rights of its customers by allowing the NSA to occupy one of the company's switching stations in San Francisco and monitor its customers' e-mails and phone calls without a warrant.

In the second case, Jewel v. NSA, brought by Electronic Frontier Foundation. [More..]

The LA Times reports on a key legacy of the 9/11 attacks: the exponential increase in governmental spying on Americans.

Thanks to new laws and technologies, authorities track and eavesdrop on Americans as they never could before, hauling in billions of bank records, travel receipts and other information. In several cases, they have wiretapped conversations between lawyers and defendants, challenging the legal principle that attorney-client communication is inviolate.

As one law professor puts it:

"We are caught in the middle of a perfect storm in which every thought we communicate, every step we take, every transaction we enter into is captured in digital data and is subject to government collection."

One we give the Government new power, it rarely gives it back. It's important to note that this legacy was not caused by the terrorists, but by our own lawmakers in Washington who let fear drive their actions. We have not become safer, we are only less free.

McClatchy has a report today on the flaws in the military's death penalty system:

Of the 16 men sentenced to death since the military overhauled its system in 1984, 10 have been taken off death row. The military's appeals courts have overturned most of the sentences, not because of a change in heart about the death penalty or questions about the men's guilt, but because of mistakes made at every level of the military's judicial system.

Why?

The problems included defense attorneys who bungled representation, judges who didn't know how to properly instruct a jury and prosecutors who mishandled evidence....At almost every level - from trial to appeals - young, inexperienced lawyers routinely have been appointed to represent capital defendants.

McClatchy contrasts these cases with those of the 9/11 defendants: [More...]

The new documents released by the President's Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on the 1,300 Guatanmalan soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients who were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940's will turn your stomach.

Here's the story of Berta, a mental patient believed to be dying:

During the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues’ meeting today on the investigation of US researchers deliberately exposing and infecting Guatemalans with sexually transmitted diseases from 1946 to 1948, one member raised the story of Berta.

....Dr. John Charles Cutler [the principal investigator for the study] .... “put gonorrhea puss on her eyes, urethra and rectrum.” Soon after, Berta died. She was one of 83 participants who died during the course of the studies.

[More...]

Ezra Klein writes:

The Obama administration is weighing whether to go big or go small in their jobs plan next week. I think the answer is clear: they should go big so they can go small. [. . . T]he more he identifies himself with particular solutions, the more he poisons those solutions for the Republican Party. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) simply cannot come out and say that “the president’s jobs plan is a sensible, pragmatic package for moving America forward that correctly takes the best ideas from both sides into account.” The moment Obama mentions a policy in a big speech, it becomes that much less likely to pass a divided Congress.

Apparently, asking for more than you expect to get in a negotiation is now understood by Ezra. I welcome his enlightenment on this point. But of course, the reality is nothing will be agreed to on stimulus, something Ezra seems to recognize. Good for Ezra, whose thinking on the President's power to set the agenda has also appeared to evolve.:

Today's early Open thread.

The Obama Administration wants to extend the temporary payroll tax cut it brokered with Mitch McConnell in December 2010 (it was part of the infamous Deal that extended the Bush tax cuts.) While some like Ezra Klein hailed this initiative as great stimulus, the record is mixed at best. Bruce Bartlett writes:

[T]here is no evidence that the lower payroll tax has done much of anything to stimulate either spending or hiring. There are a number of reasons for this. [. . .T]he tax cut only helps those with jobs. While many have low wages and undoubtedly are spending all their additional cash flow, those with the greatest need and most likely to spend any additional income are the unemployed.

[. . . E]ven if one assumes that the cost of employment has declined and employers can somehow capture some of the payroll tax cut, there’s little sign that labor costs are the principal factor holding back hiring. The main one is a lack of sales, as monthly surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business document. In the latest survey, 23 percent of businesses said poor sales were their No. 1 problem and only 4 percent cited the cost of labor.

(Emphasis supplied.) I'm not sure why the lack of demand in a zero bound recession is not recognized as the problem here by the VSP in this country. The issue is how to stimulate demand. For this purpose, spending, by the government, is what is required. It seems clear no one wants to understand this. Bartlett writes:

Michael Jackson would have turned 53 today. Dr. Conrad Murray, facing trial for involuntary manslaughter over Jackson's death was in court today. The Judge rejected his request to introduce evidence concerning Jackson's molestation case. Good decision, Jackson was acquitted and it seems like an attempt to change the subject.

Murray wants to argue Jackson was a long time drug addict. Even if he was, how does that exculpate Dr. Murray, who had been treating Jackson while living in his house, if his actions resulted in Jackson's death? [More...]

(Original graphic by Alex Ross Art)

Nancy Grace has signed on for the new season of Dancing With the Devil Stars.

As one commenter to the article suggested, too bad Casey Anthony can't be her partner. I sure hope Derek doesn't get stuck with her.

Will she be this season's Kate Gosselin?

At least we don't have to listen to her talk while she's dancing. We can just laugh.

Too funny. The half-brother of President Obama's father has been in jail for a week on DUI charges. Authorities aren't sure if he is in the country legally.

Police said that after being booked at the police station, Obama was asked whether he wanted to make a telephone call to arrange for bail. "I think I will call the White House," he stated, according to a police report filed in Framingham District Court.

Police said Obama, who is originally from Kenya and is the half-brother of the president's late father, pleaded not guilty Friday and is being held without bail on a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a court document, ICE said Onyango Obama had an earlier deportation or removal order.

Will Obama help him or hang him out to dry? I'd bet the latter. He does have a lawyer at least -- Cleveland immigration attorney Margaret Wong.

College football just around the corner. Go Gators!

Open Thread.

It is bizarre to me that Matt Yglesias thinks this argument makes any POLITICAL sense:

I feel like a lot of highly perceptive skilled writers tend to kind of see the problem and then take their eye off the ball. There’s obstructionism in Congress, not all of it from Republicans. And excuses don’t matter, results do. Therefore, what you need to do is devise a strategy designed to produce the best possible results given the constraints.

(Emphasis supplied.) If Obama follows THIS advice, he might as well start packing his bags. The results have stunk and will stink some more through November 2012. Someone needs to be blamed for the bad results. You can't do that if you don't point out what YOUR best plan is and who is stopping you from doing it. Hell, even the "President is powerless" is a better argument than this one. As Atrios responds:

The point is that what's been on the table so far isn't going to actually achieve results, if by results we mean "lowering unemployment by Nov. 2012" instead of "passing some crap through Congress that at best won't do much." [. . .] I do tend to think if you aren't going to have any results then messaging is all you have left.

(Emphasis supplied.) We've pretty much reached the "messaging is all we have left" stage.