1/9. Thirteen law professors and former government officials wrote a letter [11 pages in PDF] to Congressional leaders, and Judge Colleen Kotelly, the Chief Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, regarding "the Bush administration's National Security Agency domestic spying program".

They assert that "the Justice Department's defense of what it concedes was secret and warrantless electronic surveillance of persons within the United States fails to identify any plausible legal authority for such surveillance. Accordingly the program appears on its face to violate existing law."

Most of the signers of the letter are either former Clinton administration officials, Democrats, and/or persons connected with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). However, several are not, including William Sessions, who was appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) back in 1987 by former President Reagan.

This National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program began after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Its existence was publicly disclosed on Friday, December 16, 2005. The New York Times published a story by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau titled "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts". It stated that "President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials."

President Bush confirmed the existence of the NSA program in his radio address on Saturday, December 17, 2005. See also, story titled "President Bush Discloses Interception of Communications Without Court Approval" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,275, December 19, 2005.

President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and General Michael Hayden then held news conferences on December 19, 2005, to discuss and defend the NSA program. See, story titled "Bush, Gonzales & Hayden Discuss Presidential Intercepts and PATRIOT Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,276, December 20, 2005.

Also, William Moschella, Assistant Attorney General in charge of Congressional relations, wrote a letter [5 pages in PDF] on December 22, 2005, to the Chairmen and ranking Democrats of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in which he reduced to writing the asserted legal authority for the program.

The law professors letter asserts that "the DOJ letter fails to offer a plausible legal defense of the NSA domestic spying program. If the Administration felt that FISA was insufficient, the proper course was to seek legislative amendment, as it did with other aspects of FISA in the Patriot Act, and as Congress expressly contemplated when it enacted the wartime wiretap provision in FISA. One of the crucial features of a constitutional democracy is that it is always open to the President -- or anyone else -- to seek to change the law. But it is also beyond dispute that, in such a democracy, the President cannot simply violate criminal laws behind closed doors because he deems them obsolete or impracticable."

See also, Congressional Research Service (CRS) memorandum [44 pages in PDF] titled "Presidential Authority to Conduct Warrantless Electronic Surveillance to Gather Foreign Intelligence Information", and dated January 6, 2006.

The signers of the law professors letter include Walter Dellinger (a professor at Duke University law school, who was Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, and acting Solicitor General, in the Clinton administration), Ronald Dworkin (a professor at New York University Law School, and a former Co-Chairman of Democratic Party Abroad), Philip Heymann (a professor at Harvard Law School, and Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton administration), Martin Lederman (a Georgetown University law professor, and Office of Legal Counsel attorney in the Clinton administration), Beth Nolan (a partner at the law firm of Crowell & Moring, who was Counsel to the President, and a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, during the Clinton administration), Geoffrey Stone (a professor at the University of Chicago law school, and a member of the National Advisory Council of the ACLU), Laurence Tribe (a professor at Harvard Law School), and William Van Alstyne (a professor at William and Mary Law School, and former member of the National Board of Directors of the ACLU).

However, several of the signers of the letter are not likely critics of the Bush administration. One signer, William Sessions, is 75 years old, and retired. He was appointed U.S. Attorney, U.S. District Court Judge, and FBI Director by Republican Presidents. Another, Richard Epstein, is a law professor at the University of Chicago law school. His writings in defense of property rights have made him a favorite with many Republicans. Also, Curtis Bradley, a professor at Duke University law school, worked in the State Department Legal Adviser's Office in 2004.

The other signers of the letter are David Cole (Georgetown University law school), Kathleen Sullivan (Stanford Law School), and Harold Hongju Koh (Yale law school).

1/10. Everett Eissenstat was named Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Americas, effective January 17, 2006. He was previously Chief International Trade Counsel to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Before that, he was Legislative Director to Rep. Jim Kolbe (R AZ). See, USTR release.

1/10. Former Rep. Tom Foley (D-WA), Elliott Broidy, and John Magaw were named to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Homeland Security Advisory Council. Broidy is CEO of Broidy Capital Management, and a member of the Los Angeles City Fire and Police Pension Fund. Magaw is a former head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), former Director of the U.S. Secret Service, and former Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. See, DHS release.

1/10. Kent Nilsson was named acting Inspector General of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He is a longtime FCC employee. He replaces Horace Walker Feaster, who retired. In addition, Jon Stover was named acting Deputy Inspector General of the FCC. See, FCC release [PDF].

1/10. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the top ten private sector patent recipients for 2005. As usual, IBM is number one. See, USPTO release.

1/10. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [62 pages in PDF] titled "Eliminating Nonmarket Economy Methodology Would Lower Antidumping Duties for Some Chinese Companies".

1/5. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a speech in Washington DC to a university group in which she discussed, among other topics, visas for studying at U.S. universities. She stated that "America’s mission in this new century must be to welcome more foreign students to our nation and send more of our citizens abroad to study. To be successful, our government and our universities must forge a new partnership for education exchange, a partnership that rests on new thinking and new action." She continued that "we as a nation must continue to improve our visa policies." She added that "There are legitimate security concerns that must be met and we need your help in meeting them. I will make a promise to you: if you are prepared to help us to make certain that we can achieve a balance between openness and security, we are prepared to work with you to do so."

Tech Law Journal publishes a free access web site and subscription e-mail alert. The basic rate for a subscription to the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert is $250 per year. However, there are discounts for subscribers with multiple recipients. Free one month trial subscriptions are available. Also, free subscriptions are available for journalists, federal elected officials, and employees of the Congress, courts, and executive branch. The TLJ web site is free access. However, copies of the TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert are not published in the web site until one month after writing. See, subscription information page.

Contact: 202-364-8882.
P.O. Box 4851, Washington DC, 20008.

Privacy Policy
Notices & Disclaimers
Copyright 1998 - 2005 David Carney, dba Tech Law Journal. All rights reserved.

The House will not meet. It will convene for the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress on Tuesday, January 31, 2006.. See, Majority Whip's calendar.

The Senate will not meet. It will convene for the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. See, 2006 Senate calendar.

9:30 AM. Day three of the Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) hearings on the nomination of Judge Sam Alito to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. The SJC will hold the second round of questioning of Judge Alito. Location: Room 216, Hart Building.

10:45 AM. The Department of the Treasury (DOT), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will host an event titled "Press Roundtable on the Release of the Money Laundering Threat Assessment". The DOT notice states that "Media without Treasury press credentials (including media with White House credentials) planning to attend should contact Frances Anderson in Treasury's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 528-9086 ...". Location: DOT, Cash Room.

11:00 - 11:45 AM. The National Science Board's (NSB) Election Committee will meet to fill a vacancy on the Executive Committee. This meeting is closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 9, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 5, at Pages 1455 - 1456. Location: National Science Foundation, Room 1235, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The DC Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section will host a panel discussion titled "Post-Grokster: What the Supreme Court Decision Means to You and Your Clients". The speakers will include John Hornick (Finnegan Henderson). The price to attend ranges from $20-$40. For more information, call 202 626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Transactional Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch regarding the "Implications of the recent Media Bureau decisions rescinding grants of assignment/transfer of control applications after the parties have closed". For more information, contact Howard Liberman at hliberman at dbr dot com. Location: __.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will hold the first in a series of weekly meetings to prepare for the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) 2006 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, to be held November 6-24, 2006, in Antalya, Turkey. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 21, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 244, at Page 75854. This notice incorrectly states that these meetings will be held on Tuesdays; they are on Wednesdays. For more information, contact Julian Minard at 202 647-2593 or minardje at state dot gov. Location: AT&T, 1120 20th St., NW.

3:00 - 5:00 PM. The Broadcasting Board of Governors will meet. This meeting is closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, January 9, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 5, at Page 1409. Location: Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., 7600 Boston Blvd., Suite D, Springfield, VA.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the petition for declaratory ruling (DR) filed by Grande Communications that seeks a DR regarding the treatment of traffic terminated through Grande to end users of interconnected local exchange carriers (LECs), in circumstances where customers of Grande have certified that the traffic originated in Internet protocol (IP) format. See, notice in the Federal Register, November 2, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 211, at Pages 66411 - 66412. See also, story titled "FCC Sets Comment Deadlines for DR Petition on IP Originated VOIP Traffic and Intercarrier Compensation" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,246, November 3, 2005. This proceeding is WC Docket No. 05-283.

Deadline to submit to the Department of Commerce's Technology Administration nominations of individuals to serve on the National Medal of Technology Nomination Evaluation Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 12, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 237, at Page 73453.

9:30 AM. Day four of the Senate Judiciary Committee's (SJC) hearings on the nomination of Judge Sam Alito to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. The SJC may begin to hear testimony from panels of outside witnesses. See, witness list. Location: Room 216, Hart Building.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will begin its FM Broadcast Construction Permits Auction (Auction No. 62).  See, Public Notice [PDF] numbered DA 05-3204, and dated December 21, 2005.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Jan Voda v. Cordis Corporation, App. Ct. No. 05-1238. This is a patent dispute arising in the U.S. District Court (WDOkla), D.C. No. 03-CV-1512. The issue is whether the District Court has supplemental jurisdiction over foreign patent infringement claims in a U.S. patent infringement action under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). See, amicus brief [PDF] of the AIPLA, and amicus brief [35 pages in PDF] of the IPO. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "Patent Law for Non-Patent Lawyers". The speakers will include Jacqueline Bonilla (Foley & Lardner) and Elizabeth Brenner (Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck). The price to attend ranges from $70-$125. For more information, call 202 626-3488. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

Day one of a two day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Intelligent Systems Division and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) titled "Evaluating Cognitive Systems Workshop". This conference is closed to the public. See, notice. Location: NIST, Building 101, Lecture Room A, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation v. FCC, No. 04-1384, a case regarding Instructional Fixed Television Service ((ITFS). See, FCC's brief [50 pages in PDF]. Judges Ginsburg, Sentelle and Williams will preside. Location: Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Sandisk v. STMicroelectronics, No. 05-1300. Location: Courtroom 402, 717 Madison Place, NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Legislation and IP-Based Communications Practice Committees will host a brown bag lunch titled "Legislative Reform Affecting IP-Based Services". The speakers will be Howard Waltzman (Majority Chief Telecommunications Counsel for the House Commerce Committee), Amy Levine (Legislative Counsel to Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)), Melissa Newman (VP Regulatory Affairs at Qwest), and Chris Putala (EVP of EarthLink). RSVP to Wendy Parish at wendy at fcba dot org. Location: Verizon Wireless, 1300 Eye Street, NW, Suite 400 West.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "Scientific Talent and U.S. Economic Leadership". The speakers will be Richard Freeman (Harvard), Steven Davis (AEI), David Weinstein (Columbia), and Kevin Hassett (AEI). Freeman will discuss his paper titled "Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering Workforce Threaten U.S. Economic Leadership?". See, notice. For more information, contact Chris Pope at cpope at aei dot org or Veronique Rodman (reporters) at vrodman at aei dot org. Location: 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

Day two of a two day conference hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Intelligent Systems Division and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) titled "Evaluating Cognitive Systems Workshop". This conference is closed to the public. See, notice. Location: NIST, Building 101, Lecture Room A, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD.

5:00 PM. Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding the NIST Draft Special Publication 800-76, titled "Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification".

Deadline to submit comments to the Antitrust Modernization Commission (AMC) on international antitrust issues. The AMC seeks comments in response to the following: "The adoption of competition or antitrust laws by over 100 jurisdictions around the world, as well as the globalization of commerce and markets, has given rise to the potential for conflict between the United States and foreign jurisdictions with respect to enforcement actions taken and remedies sought. Are there multilateral procedures that should be implemented, or other actions taken, to enhance international antitrust comity? In commenting, please address the significance of the issue, what solutions might reduce that problem, and how such solutions could be implemented by the United States." See, notice in the Federal Register, November 16, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 220, at Pages 69510 - 69511.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to a petition for declaratory ruling [34 pages in PDF] filed by the Fax Ban Coalition that asks the FCC to find that the FCC has exclusive authority to regulate interstate commercial fax messages, and that § 17538.43 of the California Business and Professions Code, and all other State laws that purport to regulate interstate facsimile transmissions, are preempted by the TCPA, which is codified at 47 U.S.C. § 541.

Martin Luther King's birthday.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other federal offices will be closed. See, Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) list of federal holidays.

Deadline to submit comments to the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding its "Proposed Principles for Federal Support of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education and Training in Science and Engineering". See, notice in the Federal Register, November 16, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 220, at Pages 69563 - 69565.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Cable Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch titled "The Top Ten Technological Trends Everybody Should Know About". The speakers will be John Wong and the staff of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau's Engineering Division. RSVP to Ben Golant at ben dot golant at fcc dot gov. Location: Willkie Farr & Gallagher, 1875 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) portion of its Report and Order (R&O) and NPRM of August 5, 2005 regarding regulation of information services. The R&O classified wireline broadband internet access services as information services. The NPRM proposes to impose new regulatory burdens on information services. This item is FCC 05-150 in WC Docket No. 05-271, CC Docket No. 02-33, CC Docket No. 01-337, CC Docket Nos. 95-20 and 98-10, and WC Docket No. 04-242. See, story titled "FCC Classifies DSL as Information Service" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,190, August 8, 2005. The FCC released the text [133 pages in PDF] of this item on September 23, 2005. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 17, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 199, at Pages 60259 - 60271.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding its rules affecting Wireless Radio Services. This item is FCC 05-144 in WT Docket Nos. 03-264. The FCC adopted this item on July 22, 2005. It released the text [67 pages in PDF] on August 9, 2005. See, notice in the Federal Register, October 19, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 201, at Pages 60770 - 60781.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding a petition for rulemaking of 13 hearing impairment related entities. Their petition requests that the FCC initiate a rulemaking proceeding to mandate captioned telephone relay service and to approve internet protocol captioned telephone relay service. The FCC's Public Notice [PDF] states that "Captioned telephone service is a form of telecommunications relay service (TRS) that permits persons to simultaneously both listen to what the other party is saying and read captions of what the other party is saying on the same device. Presently the service is eligible for compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund (Fund), but is not mandatory. The petition asks the Commission to initiate a rulemaking for the purpose of making captioned telephone service a mandatory form of TRS and approving Internet Protocol (IP) captioned telephone service as eligible for compensation from the Fund." (Footnotes omitted). This notice is DA 05-2961 in CG Docket No. 03-123. See also, notice in the November 30, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 229, at Pages 71849 - 71850.

The Senate will convene for the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress. See, 2006 Senate calendar.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. The Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA) will host a conference titled "The Legal Implications of Data Integrity". See, agenda. The price to attend ranges from $95 to $195. Location: Jack Morton Auditorium, Media and Public Affairs Building, George Washington University, 805 21st St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The DC Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section and Patent Section will host a panel discussion titled "Current Topics in Patent Law: Patent Pools and Standards Bodies". The speakers will include James Kulbaski (Oblon Spivak). The price to attend ranges from $10-$30. For more information, call 202 626-3463. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

2:00 - 4:00 PM. The Department of State's International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) will hold the second in a series of weekly meetings to prepare for the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) 2006 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, to be held November 6-24, 2006, in Antalya, Turkey. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 21, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 244, at Page 75854. This notice incorrectly states that these meetings will be held on Tuesdays; they are on Wednesdays. For more information, contact Julian Minard at 202 647-2593 or minardje at state dot gov. Location: AT&T, 1120 20th St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar titled "50 Tips For Ethical and Effective Web Sites for Lawyers and Law Firms". The speakers will include Walter Effross (American University law school). The price to attend ranges from $70-$125. For more information, call 202 626-3488. See, notice. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, 1250 H Street NW, B-1 Level.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [24 pages in PDF] regarding amendments to its unsolicited facsimile advertising rules and the established business relationship (EBR) exception to the rules. This NPRM was adopted by the FCC on December 9, 2005, and released on December 9, 2005. It is FCC 05-206 in CG Docket No. 02-278. See, notice in the Federal Register, December 19, 2005, Vol. 70, No. 242, at Pages 75102 - 75110.