The Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping - New York Times

The Warrantless Debate Over Wiretapping - New York Times: "For this purpose, warrants are utterly beside the point. As Judge Richard Posner has put it, “once you grant the legitimacy of surveillance aimed at detection rather than at gathering evidence of guilt, requiring a warrant to conduct it would be like requiring a warrant to ask people questions or to install surveillance cameras on city streets.” Warrants, which originate in the criminal justice paradigm, provide a useful standard for surveillance designed to prove guilt, not to learn the identity of people who may be planning atrocities."

Thanks to John O'Connor for this submission. We've had some long and interesting discussions on this, and it is satisfying to see more bipartisan unity there.