4 ms·

This is revolting. Do the police just get to go to a judge and literaly say "blah blah blah we want a warrant" and the judge goes "OK"? Because it sure does fe

This is revolting. Do the police just get to go to a judge and literaly say "blah blah blah we want a warrant" and the judge goes "OK"? Because it sure does feel like it sometimes. In this case FB seems to have done right by its users (or tried to). However is that always going to be the case? Are they always going to be willing, are they always going to find their rebuttal in the hands of someone who is friendly to their argument?

zkms 9y ago
It helps if you throw around phrases like "based on my training and experience" but yes, there's plenty of judges who act like literal rubber stamps when it comes to warrants. This is why "due process" doesn't necessarily mean too much, because a lot of the time it's just a case of the law-enforcement agent finding the right judge to show the warrant application to.
- yorwba 9y ago
  These systems all really need some kind of feedback loop. E.g. when a judge approves a warrant that is later found to be unjustified, they have to take responsibility. Likewise for not approving a justified warrant, otherwise you might get chilling effects. If both kinds of feedback are present, it should help the judge stay calibrated to an acceptable interpretation of "justified".
  - votepaunchy 9y ago
    > Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally.[1] The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence or evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree
- ericcumbee 9y ago
  It also does not help that in many smaller counties (at least in Georgia, and I think other places) there is no requirement that the magistrate judge (the Judge that signs off on warrants) has to be a lawyer.

zkms 9y ago

It helps if you throw around phrases like "based on my training and experience" but yes, there's plenty of judges who act like literal rubber stamps when it comes to warrants. This is why "due process" doesn't necessarily mean too much, because a lot of the time it's just a case of the law-enforcement agent finding the right judge to show the warrant application to.

yorwba 9y ago
These systems all really need some kind of feedback loop. E.g. when a judge approves a warrant that is later found to be unjustified, they have to take responsibility. Likewise for not approving a justified warrant, otherwise you might get chilling effects. If both kinds of feedback are present, it should help the judge stay calibrated to an acceptable interpretation of "justified".
- votepaunchy 9y ago
  > Fruit of the poisonous tree is a legal metaphor in the United States used to describe evidence that is obtained illegally.[1] The logic of the terminology is that if the source (the "tree") of the evidence or evidence itself is tainted, then anything gained (the "fruit") from it is tainted as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree
ericcumbee 9y ago
It also does not help that in many smaller counties (at least in Georgia, and I think other places) there is no requirement that the magistrate judge (the Judge that signs off on warrants) has to be a lawyer.