[Giefo6ah]

What would be the practical difference between an order from a party cadre in a private firm and a national security letter?

[WarmWash]

A legitimate legal system with judges who have no obligation to anyone or anything besides the constitution first, and laws second.

[edelhans]

And what makes you think that the US still has such a system?

[myko]

True that it is collapsing which is sad but it does, in part, still function. We are the proverbial frog in the pot.

[inigyou]

Neither of them has that

[reverius42]

Post-Snowden, thinking that the US national security apparatus is subordinate to judges and the Constitution is naive and uninformed.