I see a lot of smart people making intelligent comments, but intelligence is not knowledge of the law. I'm not a lawyer, and am happy to be corrected by one, but I do have some small knowledge of law.
First, under the law there is no entity called "government." I see these blanket statements about "the government must." The prosecutors don't belong to the NSA, and so we need to understand that laws rarely apply across the spectrum to the whole of the federal government.
Second, we need to understand that there are lots of rules and laws related to disclosure. The defense and prosecution can ask for many documents, and there are well-defined rules for what you can withhold, redact, and what you must produce. Because the entities are separate (see above) the rules that apply to the prosecution are different from those that apply to the NSA.
Finally, the NSA need only comply with the rules for issuing subpoenas. This is where things get messy. I'd be surprised if a subpoena gets issued at all, more surprised if the NSA responds, and I might die of shock if they said anything besides, "no, because national security."
The NSA works to catch criminals - not to defend anyone. I know it seems and probably is unfair, but this lawyer's request is going nowhere. It's the same as with "anything you say can be used against you," the police aren't required to disclose the things you tell them that would help your defense. Don't expect law enforcement to come to your aid in criminal defense. The sad truth is that the information recorded by the NSA can be used to prosecute, but it'll be a cold day in hell before the NSA lets you use their information for your defense.
If they don't have to respond to discovery, they certainly are legally required to respond to this.
If they play the "national security" or "privacy" card, this defendant has a strong case to appeal any conviction considering that the existence of this database has been essentially "unclassified" by POTUS with his public acknowledgements.
This sounds like a great explanation of an additional reason why the NSA collecting billions of communication records is harmful to civil liberties. It empowers prosecutors with no proportional aid to defendants.
First, under the law there is no entity called "government." I see these blanket statements about "the government must." The prosecutors don't belong to the NSA, and so we need to understand that laws rarely apply across the spectrum to the whole of the federal government.
Second, we need to understand that there are lots of rules and laws related to disclosure. The defense and prosecution can ask for many documents, and there are well-defined rules for what you can withhold, redact, and what you must produce. Because the entities are separate (see above) the rules that apply to the prosecution are different from those that apply to the NSA.
Finally, the NSA need only comply with the rules for issuing subpoenas. This is where things get messy. I'd be surprised if a subpoena gets issued at all, more surprised if the NSA responds, and I might die of shock if they said anything besides, "no, because national security."
The NSA works to catch criminals - not to defend anyone. I know it seems and probably is unfair, but this lawyer's request is going nowhere. It's the same as with "anything you say can be used against you," the police aren't required to disclose the things you tell them that would help your defense. Don't expect law enforcement to come to your aid in criminal defense. The sad truth is that the information recorded by the NSA can be used to prosecute, but it'll be a cold day in hell before the NSA lets you use their information for your defense.