Personal Freedom and Prosperity 110: The Rule of LawA Predictable and Stable Legal Order"The Law rests upon known, general principles applicable on equal terms to all persons. It follows that the Law is superior to, and thus binds, the government and all its officials.”- Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Supreme Court of the United States

The startling realization that the NSA has been spying on American citizens is often met with the excuse “I have nothing to hide, why should I worry?” and is subsequently ignored.  There are many strong arguments as to why you should care: privacy should be valued for its own sake, large bureaucratic apparatuses have proven to be untrustworthy, and sweeping domestic surveillance invites ‘Big Brother’ into our society. The strongest argument though, is to point out that now or in the future you may indeed have something to hide and not even know it.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden brought warrantless wiretapping to the forefront of national conversation by exposing the National Security Agency surveillance of the American people. While  many  Americans  are outraged at the NSA’s unconstitutional actions, few realize the extensive history of NSA’s spying policies. Since President Truman established the NSA in 1952, the agency has grown in both power and technological capabilities, enabling them to spy upon Americans without consent or probable cause.

Tapping the News-- Civil Liberties -- July 8thThe FISA court has used judicial overreach to approve the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping.

On today’s edition of the FreedomCast, Paul Rosenzweig, visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation joins me to discuss the latest on the NSA Prism program, Edward Snowden, hero or traitor and how a high school dropout ended up exposing the biggest spy program in US history.  Related links:

This weekend Edward Snowden, a low-level employee who worked for a major defense contractor, came out to the press and acknowledged that he was the source of the leaks behind the National Security Administration's controversial spy program. The negative reaction to these revelations of the past week have been swift and strong from average Americans, some elected officials, and tech companies who have been named as participants in the NSA's data gathering scheme.

The National Security Agency (NSA) used a top secret court order to collect telephone records on millions of Americans without their consent. The order demanded Verizon to provide records on an "ongoing, daily basis" to the federal government on calls both within the United States and between the United States and other countries.

This morning we learned that the National Security Administration (NSA) has been collecting the phone records of every domestic Verizon customer since at least late April of this year. Under the auspices of "national security" the Obama Administration has been monitoring "meta-data" from Verizon customers. This includes who you're calling, where you're calling from and how long those calls last.

Monday was a bad day for the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in Maryland v. King, by a vote of 5-4, that it is constitutional for police to take DNA swabs of felony arrestees--who have not yet been convicted of anything--without a warrant. Yikes. All freedom lovers should be disappointed in the SCOTUS’ wrong decision: it’s a violation of our individual liberty and just downright creepy.

This is still America, right? We still have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, correct? Lately, it sure doesn’t seem like it. It seems like we are constantly hearing new stories of our rights being under attack here in America. This week, it’s the Fourth Amendment which is being systematically destroyed.