The Sneak and Peek Provision of the USA Patriot act has been declared unconstitutional by a Federal judge. Eoin (Owen) Bastable has more:
Yesterday afternoon, an Oregon Federal District court Judge ruled in favor of the family of Brandon Mayfield and his family, in their case against the U-S government.
Portland attorney brandon mayfield sought the ruling after he was mistakenly linked by the FBI to the Madrid Train Bombings in 2004.
This is Brandon Mayfield, speaking just moments after the family learned the news of this ruling:
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After arresting and imprisoning Mayfield three years ago, the government was forced by Court order to apologize to Mayfield and his family for the surveillance of their home and harassment of family members.
Mayfield argued that secret searches of his house and office under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Violated his Fourth Amendment Rights.
Judge Ann Aiken agreed with Mayfield and was very critical of several provisions of the USA Patriot act.
She ruled that two provisions of the act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without probable cause.
- KBOO