JURIST - Paper Chase: Mukasey says Fourth Amendment applies to domestic military terror ops

[JURIST] US Attorney General Michael Mukasey [official profile] Thursday disavowed a 2001 memo [JURIST report] advising the Bush administration that Fourth Amendment [text] protections against unreasonable searches and seizures did not apply to "domestic military operations." Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mukasey testified [recorded video] that the 2001 memo is not currently endorsed by the Justice Department and said that the "Fourth Amendment applies across the board, regardless of whether we're in wartime or in peacetime."

The October 23, 2001 memo, authored by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, was referenced in a footnote of a 2003 memorandum [PDF text; JURIST report] on military interrogations, which was made public by the American Civil Liberties Union last week. The 2001 memo remains classified, but the ACLU has said that it will seek disclosure of document. The Washington Post has more.

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