Court: Some data on government cell phone tracking should be public

[LeighAnn]

Source: CNN

Information about how and when the government gathers and uses cell phone location data to track certain criminal suspects should be made available to the public, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

At issue was whether the Justice Department could be forced to release once-sensitive records from past cases, following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the public's interest outweighed any privacy concerns raised by the government over their warrantless wiretapping.

"The disclosure sought by the plaintiffs would inform this ongoing public policy discussion by shedding light on the scope and effectiveness of cell phone tracking as a law enforcement tool," said the judges in their 35-page ruling. "It would, for example, provide information about the kinds of crimes the government uses cell phone tracking data to investigate."



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/06/cell.phone.tracking/

[pam4water]

1. D: A reasonable ruling for a court. :O

[JDPriestly]

2. Three-judge panel. If the full court upholds the decision,

that will be a good sign.


Before: GINSBURG and GARLAND, Circuit Judges, and
WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge.

http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/10E405AAB60A986885257903004EC51F/$file/10-5159-1327674.pdf

Douglas Howard Ginsburg (born May 25, 1946) is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to this court in October 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. He served as its Chief Judge from July 16, 2001 until February 10, 2008. Ginsburg was picked by Reagan to fill a United States Supreme Court vacancy in 1987, but the judge withdrew from consideration after his earlier marijuana use created a controversy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_H._Ginsburg

Ginsburg was a law clerk for Thurgood Marshall.

On September 6, 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Garland to the D.C. Circuit seat vacated by Abner J. Mikva.

Garland received a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on December 1, 1995.<8> However, his nomination languished under the Republican-controlled Senate until after the 1996 election. At the time of his nomination, many Republican senators cited as their reason for objecting to his nomination the fact that they did not believe that the D.C. Circuit needed an additional judge.

After winning the 1996 presidential election, Clinton renominated Garland on January 7, 1997.<9> Garland was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 19, 1997 in a 76-23 vote and received his commission on March 20.<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_B._Garland

Stephen Fain Williams (born 1936) is a Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to the court in June 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, and took senior status in September 2001.

He graduated from Yale College (B.A. 1958) Magna Cum Laude and from Harvard Law School (J.D. 1961) Magna Cum Laude. Judge Williams was engaged in private practice from 1962 to 1966 and became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1966. From 1969 until his appointment to the bench, Judge Williams taught at the University of Colorado School of Law. During this time, he also served as a Visiting Professor of Law at UCLA, University of Chicago Law School, and Southern Methodist University and was a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Federal Trade Commission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_F._Williams

I'm pessimistic about the likelihood that the full court will uphold it.