Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky announced Wednesday 12th that he would sue President Obama and the NSA. Paul is filing the lawsuit along with a group of Tea Partiers and a Conservative group named FreedomWorks. The lead counsel for the case will be former Republican gubernatorial candidate for Virginia Ken Cuccinelli.
Paul says that the NSA’s collection of the phone records of millions of Americans is in violation of the 4th Amendment to our Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches by the government. Paul is also suing the head of the NSA, General Keith Alexander, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and FBI Director James Coney.
Paul, the son of former Texas Congressman Ron Paul (who ran for president in 2012) gained attention in 2013 when he filibustered the naming of John O’Brennan as the head of the CIA, questioning the legality of the administration’s drone program and their potential use on US territory. More recently, he also criticized Bill Clinton in regards to the Monica Lewinsky scandal of 1998. It is widely believed that he is preparing for the 2016 Republican nomination for president, and many believe that his criticisms of the Obama Administration and Bill Clinton are just attempts to gain publicity before he officially announces his campaign. His criticism of Clinton was also made to question the suitability of his wife Hillary for president (she is expected to run for the Democratic nomination in 2016).
The Senator has denied the accusations that he is simply trying to drum up attention, saying that “…I just want you to go to a judge, have an individual’s name and [get] a warrant. That’s what the Fourth Amendment says.” He has also said that despite the government’s claims that the NSA spying is an essential part of the country’s anti-terrorism program there is no evidence it is effective.
The revelation that the NSA has been collecting millions of Americans’ phone records and also spying on leaders of allied countries such as Germany rocked the world in May of last year. The leaks were provided by a former NSA contractor named Edward Snowden, now living in Russia. The leaks were controversial, with many criticizing the NSA as having overstepped its legal boundaries and others defending the surveillance as essential to the protection of the Western world. Paul said that “There’s a huge and growing swell of protest in this country of people who are outraged that their records are being taken without suspicion, without a judge’s warrant and without individualization…”
Paul and Cuccinelli have also been accused by a lawyer named Bruce Fein of leaving Fein’s name off the suit. Fein has alleged that he was not paid by Paul’s staff for his services in writing the suit. Paul has been accused in the past of plagiarism in his speeches, having previously been accused of plagiarizing the Wikipedia summary for the movie Gattaca in a speech.
Fein’s lawyer and ex-wife Mattie Fein has said that “Bruce wrote the entire thing.” Doug Stafford, director of RandPAC, Paul’s committee replied that “Allegations that Bruce Fein was not paid are false, he was paid. Additionally, Bruce was one of several lawyers involved in this lawsuit.”
