FBI: Lose in court? Ignore the court

Yet another report by the Department of Justice has found that the FBI has abused the power of National Security Letters granted to it in the USA PATRIOT Act. There are all kinds of things to say about this, but what I found most appalling was this:

According to the findings by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, the FBI tried to work around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees clandestine spying in the United States, after it twice rejected an FBI request in 2006 to obtain certain records. The court had concluded "the 'facts' were too thin" and the "request implicated the target's First Amendment rights," the report said.

But the FBI went ahead and got the records anyway by using a national security letter. The FBI's general counsel, Valerie E. Caproni, told investigators it was appropriate to issue the letters in such cases because she disagreed with the court's conclusions.

The level of arrogance here is beyond stunning. The FBI's counsel disagreed with the court, so she told the bureau to just ignore the court. Has this woman been disbarred yet?

Andy in Harrisburg