A several-year effort by the Department of Justice to keep secret a legal memo detailing what security state organs have access to census records is now over, and forthcoming documents should show the extent to which spies abused a sacred, constitutionally-mandated trust.
In court documents filed on Thursday, the DOJ dropped its appeal in a multi-year long legal battle against the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group seeking the release, through a Freedom of Information Act request, of opinions on census access from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
Since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed information about the federal government’s domestic espionage program, the Justice Department and intelligence agencies have released several records, including OLC memos, pertaining to surveillance activities. Documents specifically related to the authority to collect census data under section 215 of the PATRIOT Act—legislation that amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)– have remained hidden, however, and, until Thursday, disputed in court.
“The public trusts that information disclosed for the census won’t wind up in the hands of law enforcement or intelligence agencies,” EFF Staff Attorney Mark Rumold said in a statement after the filing. “The public has a right to know what the Office of Legal Counsel’s conclusions were on this topic, and we’re happy to have vindicated that important right.”
Among the most notable Snowden revelations was how the National Security Agency has used provisions within FISA and the Patriot Act to conduct dragnet surveillance on American citizens. Specifically, section 215 authorities were being used to compel telecoms to hand over their customers’ telephone records to the NSA.
When the documents at the heart of Thursday’s court filings are revealed, they could shed some light on a lingering question since Snowden’s intelligence disclosures began back in June 2013.
“We filed this suit nearly four years ago to inform the public about the way the government was using Section 215. We’re well overdue to have a fully informed, public debate about this provision of law, and hopefully the disclosure of this opinion will help move the public debate forward,” Rumould said.
If indeed it’s revealed that the OLC memos allowed for the feds to tap into census records, it would not only add an additional layer to the already top-heavy NSA scandal, but might also be crippling to the US Census Bureau.
Americans already are growing more distrustful of the government’s handling of census data. Between 2009 and 2010, trust in the US Census Bureau plummeted from 75% to 39%, mostly due to wild reports from conservative media alleging nefarious intentions by the then one-year-old Obama Administration.
A census scandal rooted in actual evidence could put the decennial process in further trouble, and may even trigger something of a constitutional crisis should people stop participating en masse.
