A U.S. appeals court panel challenged the Bush administration Friday over new rules making it easier for the police and the FBI to wiretap phone calls made over the Internet. One judge told the government that its courtroom arguments were “gobbledygook” and suggested its lawyer return to his office and “have a big chuckle.” [Link]
“Your argument makes no sense,” Judge Harry Edwards told the lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission, Jacob Lewis. “When you go back to the office, have a big chuckle. I’m not missing this. This is ridiculous.”
At another point in the hearing, Edwards told the lawyer his arguments were “gobbledygook” and “nonsense.”
And more:
The commission argued that providers of high-speed Internet services should be covered under the 1994 law because their voice-transmission services could be considered separately from information services. “Congress intended to cover services that were functionally equivalent” to traditional telephones, [FCC lawyer Jacob] Lewis said.
“There’s nothing to suggest that in the statute,” Edwards replied. “Stating that doesn’t make it so.” [I think that gets Quote of the Day status.]
