Advancing American Freedom and 48 other amici supported a challenge to the
constitutionality of a mass surveillance operation against the American people. In their
amicus brief in Davidson v. Gensler, AAF and its fellow amici argued that the
beleaguered Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is circumventing Congress
by compelling private entities it regulates to build and pay for a program to snoop on
every household that owns stock or an IRA.
“The CAT (consolidated audit trail) database is unconstitutional, contrary to statutory
law, and would inevitably be hacked by our foreign enemies and by malign actors at
home to harm America and Americans. The bottom line is, this information is none of
the government’s business,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “The
government has a history of leaking sensitive information and of having its databases
hacked. The CAT would create both the opportunity and the inevitability for that problem
on a massive scale.”
It is believed to be the largest surveillance program initiated since 9/11, and the second
largest surveillance program operated by the American government, smaller only than
that of the National Security Agency.
Without authorization or appropriation from Congress, the SEC has been building this
system since 2012. It has usurped the congressional power of the purse by compelling
entities it regulates, entities that are in no position to protest, to pay for CAT’s
construction and operation.
“Federal regulatory agencies are circling this case like jackals, watching to see if the
Courts will allow them to tear away at powers the Constitution reserves only to
Congress, or the People,” said Wheat. “This may be the most alarming Constitutional
case of the entire Biden-Harris Administration.”
Read the article from NationalReview.com here.
Read the article from TheDailyCaller.com here.
Read the brief here.
