Glenn Greenwald: Libertarians, Conservatives and Warrantless Eavesdropping

I find this so, so interesting and genuinely revealing. Back when he was still a "libertarian" -- a mere 5 years ago -- Glenn Reynolds was vigorously opposed to warrantless surveillance and even shared the view of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor that warrantless surveillance is unconstitutional. Via some excellent research from D-Day, please read and savor what Reynolds said on September 14, 2001 -- 3 days after the 9/11 attacks (emphasis added):

THE SENATE has approved a bill allowing warrantless taps of Internet traffic. This is one of those losses of freedom I was talking about. It may (and should) be ruled unconstitutional. But it shouldn't be passed at all.

Would this have prevented Tuesday's attacks? No, because we didn't know who to tap. Has the FBI wanted this for years anyway, under a variety of excuses (drug dealers, organized crime, kiddie porn, whatever the flavor of the week was)? Yes. Is this bureaucratic opportunism? Yes again.

If the bill can't be stopped, opponents in the House should insist on a sunset provision -- say in two years. If it hasn't proved its usefulness by then, it should be scrapped. But really, it should be scrapped now.

Amazingly, if you follow the link which Reynolds included, you will find that the legislation which so offended his libertarian sensibilities (the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001") -- and which he said was unconstitutional (presumably on Fourth Amendment grounds) -- provided far, far less surveillance power to the President than the current Specter bill (or the President's NSA program), since all that bill provided was that "prosecutors could authorize surveillance for 48-hour periods without a judge's approval."