The Dying Institutions Of Western Civilization

The Dying Institutions Of Western Civilization
nothing is left

Paul Craig Roberts

Judiciary Branch Has Self-Abolished

The US no longer has a judiciary. This former branch of government
has transitioned into an enabler of executive branch fascism.

Privacy is a civil liberty protected by the US Constitution. The
Constitution relies on courts to enforce its prohibitions against
intrusive government, but if the executive branch claims (no proof
required) “national security,” courts kiss the Constitution good-bye.

Federal judges are chosen by the executive branch. The senate can
refuse to confirm, but that is rare. The executive branch chooses
judges who are friendly to executive power. This is especially the case
for the appeals courts and the Supreme Court. The Justice (sic)
Department keeps tabs on district court judges who rule against the
government, and these judges don’t make it to the higher courts. The
result over time is to erode civil liberty.

Recently a three-judge panel of the US Appeals Court for the District
of Columbia ruled that the National Security Agency can continue its
mass surveillance of the US population without showing cause. The
panel avoided the constitutional question by ruling on procedural terms
that NSA had a right to withhold the information that would prove the
plaintiffs’ case.

By refusing to extend the section of the USA PATRIOT Act—a name that
puts a patriotic sheen on Orwellian totalitarianism—that gave carte
blanche to the NSA and by passing the USA Freedom Act, Congress
attempted to give NSA’s spying a constitutional patina. The USA Freedom
Act allows the telecom companies to spy on us and collect all of our
communications data and for NSA to access the data by obtaining a
warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court. The
Freedom Act protects constitutional procedures by requiring NSA to go
through the motions, but it does not prevent telecom companies from
invading our privacy in behalf of NSA.