Weigel

Rand Paul’s Lawsuit Against the NSA

The modern period of Rand Paul, Republican leader, began on what was supposed to be a cold, snowswept day in D.C. Opponents of Paul remembered that—they claimed the media showed up to cover his drone filibuster because other news, and events, had been canceled. 

But if it works, work it. Today, the Kentucky senator filed the civil suit he’d been collecting signatures for via his RAND PAC. Alongside FreedomWorks, the libertarian Tea Party group, and represented by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Paul revealed his class-action complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. It asked the U.S. District Court in D.C. to “declare that the Mass Associational Tracking Program violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution” and order the state to “purge … all of the telepohone metadata collected, stored, retained and searched about Plaintiffs and class members.” The picture above shows maybe one-fourth of the media that showed up, and doesn’t even show the British reporters who wanted this senator to weigh in on that country’s spying scandal.

The lawsuit is readable here.

(Photo by me)