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Originally Posted by aceventura3
I would say primarily to the electorate and congress. The judicial branch's powers are limited when congress has failed to pass clear legislation.
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But how do we, the electorate, hold congress accountable for anything if they may keep their actions secret and ignore our subpoenas and warrants?
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Specifically in this situation I have one question that will guide my view - Who is the victim? Well, two questions - How has the victim been harmed?
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I think it would be more like looking through my mail (not stealing my mail, or opening my mail, just looking at the envelopes seeing who it is coming from and going to) If my mail is on public property when you do it, how am I a victim, how have I been harmed?
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It's interesting that you find these points important. It sounds a lot like the ends justifying the means. If no harm is noticed by doing something wrong, how wrong can it be? If I steal something of yours that you didn't even know you had or wouldn't notice if it were gone, did I really do anything wrong?
Your mail analogy isn't bad except for the mail being on public property. Instead of improving analogies, lets just examine the issue. The phone companies enjoy
common carrier status which, while shielding them from liability, commits them to confidentiality. That's why warrants are needed to compel them to reveal said confidences to the government (except to the Executive, it seems...).
None of this is my actual point, however.
I'm not concerned about
why the Judiciary is taking action against the Executive, I'm concerned about what powers the Executive thinks it has. I think we can all agree that no one person or organization is (or should be) above the law. So, how can the Executive not answer to the Judiciary?