Executive order implicates Obama in cover-up
Re: “To shield Holder, Obama puts secrecy before transparency,” Editorial, June 21
By issuing an order of executive privilege to save Attorney General Eric Holder from testifying before Congress on Operation Fast and Furious, President Obama has surely opened a Pandora’s Box for himself.
It now follows that Obama is fully aware of all the factual material surrounding this disgraceful episode. I predict that later on the president will also be called to testify before Congress since the Republicans will not let it go.
The nation demands all the facts that went into the supplying of a mammoth amount of weaponry to the Mexican cartels so that this nightmare will never,ever happen again.
Bernard Helinski
Baltimore
Up to courts to protect us from stalking drones
Re: “Drones at home raise fears of a surveillance society,” June 19
Joan Lowry identifies mounting public fear that the use of domestic drones threatens the right to privacy. However, technology in the hands of government does not automatically threaten our rights. Our laws, stated or ingrained in our Constitution, protect us from unjust government powers.
While the public is right to vigilantly guard its right to privacy, the question is: Will the courts uphold those rights?
In the case of government surveillance, the Fourth Amendment prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures.” A recent Fourth Amendment decision by the Supreme Court in United States v. Jones invalidated evidence obtained with a GPS device installed under a suspect’s car without a warrant. While that majority opinion should assuage some fears of a “surveillance society,” it raises others.
The court held that installing a GPS tracking device constitutes a search. However, the majority deemed the government action a search on the basis of the physical presence of the device.
The justices have yet to elucidate the bearing of the Fourth Amendment when it comes to ethereal stalking by an unmanned aerial vehicle.
Jack Solowey
Washington
TSA screenings are excessively intrusive
Re: “Dear TSA: I am not your customer,” June 16
I am in complete agreement with Art Carden’s commentary regarding the Transportation Security Administration’s airport security screenings.
They are invasive,humiliating and exasperating.
Irene Scheeren
Centreville
