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Why is the lawsuit against Obama? Shouldn't it be against the USG or the part of the government that passed the law (or against the NSA for the data collection)
by k-mcgrady 13y ago
Why is the lawsuit against Obama? Shouldn't it be against the USG or the part of the government that passed the law (or against the NSA for the data collection)? It seems strange to sue an individual politician, president or not.
- dreamdu5t 13y agoI'm not a lawyer but my guess is because its not a question of legality, it's a question of an elected official breaking the law. When the Mayor of a town embezzles the city's money... the city is the defendant not the plaintiff.
- wutbrodo 13y agoIANAL, but my assumption was that Paul the suit has no chance of success from a legal perspective, leaving only the PR angle. From the PR angle, "Rand Paul sues Obama" gets a hell of a lot more attention than "Rand Paul sues such-and-such agency".
- ethana 13y agoI figure the NSA, like CIA, is under ultimate authority of the Commander-in-chief and POTUS. So the lawsuit have to file against whatever administration is currently in office.
- zacinbusiness 13y agoAre any of these organizations really under anyone's authority?
- saraid216 13y agoSo, looking at the complaint, it actually names Obama (POTUS), Clapper (Director of Nat. Int.), Alexander (Director of NSA), and Comey (Director of FBI) as defendants. This seems reasonable to me. This is the bulk of page 5.
- abtinf 13y agoThe lawsuit is against Obama because the actions were taken by the executive branch, Obama is the President, and the President is the executive branch.
- dopamean 13y agoAnd that is why this is such a preposterous idea. You can't actually sue the President for things he does as the President. If it were for private actions taken as a private citizen that would be different.