After US District Judge William H. Pauley ruled the controversial mass collection of phone data by the National security Agency as 'Constitutional' and 'legal', outraged public have taken to the social networking sites calling the judge a "traitor".
The federal judge ruled Friday that the mass surveillance program of NSA, which was leaked by Whistleblower Edward Snowden earlier this year, was lawful. He dismissed the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit alleging that the NSA's phone records program was unconstitutional.
The Judge's ruling however, has not gone down too well with the public, many of whom have been outraged by the policy's infringement into privacy. Judge pauley said in his 52-page ruling that the phone meta data collection "represents the Government's counter-punch" to terrorist threats that have been observed in the US since September 11, 2001. The program connected "fragmented and fleeting communications to re-construct and eliminate al-Qaeda's terror network", he added.
The controversial ruling comes less than two weeks after D.C District Court Judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction blasting the NSA's bulk data collection as "Orwellian" and "Arbitrary". He had said that the surveillence is most likely to be unconstitutional.
"The right to be free from searches and seizures is fundamental, but not absolute," Pauley wrote. "Whether the fourth Amendment protects bulk telephony metadata is ultimately a question of reasonableness. There is no evidence that the government has used any of bulk telephony metadata it collected for any purpose other than investigating and disrupting terrorist attacks."
Outraged public have taken to the social networking and micro-blogging sites, lambasting the judge as a 'traitor' "because he abandoned his oath of office to uphold the constitution".
U.S. District Judge William Pauley has abandoned his oath of office to uphold the Constitution and is a traitor to the American people.
— Hey, Aint Chu You?! (@cypherdivine) December 27, 2013
Many posts on twitter were in reference to an article published by a website called "Militia News", an independent news portel claiming to be a forum aimed at "assisting Americans with joining or forming their own organization dedicated to the principles and values as set forth within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States".
The article titled "US District Judge William H. Pauley III is a Traitor," alleges that Pauley is a "traitorous and corrupt US District Judge that is obviously in the back pocket of the Obama administration." Citing the text from the Fourth Amendment that restricts "unreasonable search and seizure", the article said that it was unreasonable for NSA to be collecting phone records from the American people.
"They have no probable cause supported by any Oath or affirmation for such a broad collection of information. It is the very definition of an unreasonable search and seizure," it said.
Following are the latest 'hate' reactions against the judge that are doing their rounds in twitter:
Judge Wm.Pauley "Another Appointed Hack/Traitor" rules in NSA Favor.What else would you expect?! — Robert K Martin (@NailedFlesh) December 28, 2013
US district judge William Pauley. #TRAITOR #NSA
— TwitChic (@Swoozie123) December 28, 2013
The NSA initially claimed that they had stopped over 50 terrorist attacks through their surveillance programs but... http://t.co/Yl3I6IDESW — Joshua Powell (@avatarjoshua) December 28, 2013
U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III Is A Traitor. http://t.co/tuT6Qo8EQR
— Mark King (@InfidelMaximus) December 28, 2013
Correct. Judge Pauley is a traitor. His decision is identical to letting a bank robber go free because he didn't... http://t.co/UTvXIGiqmr — Golf TheSimpleTruth (@GolfSimpleTruth) December 28, 2013
U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III Is A Traitor. http://t.co/LucRGs4qPl
— John Becker (@JohnBec30233630) December 28, 2013