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Wasn't there a fuss about Robert Bork (Supreme Court nominee) having his video rental records disclosed? Long before the Patriot Act.


Yes but again, please don't conflate these two unrelated topics. Bork's video rental records were voluntarily disclosed by a video rental shop to a newspaper reporter. A person has no particular constitutional right to privacy in such matters. This was Bork's own opinion on the matter! Later, Congress passed a law making such records private.

But that's all neither here nor there. We're discussing a court order. No law prevents a court from ordering the disclosure of video rental records, even today with the Video Privacy Protection Act, because the VPPA allows disclosure "to a law enforcement agency pursuant to a warrant issued under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure". Because that's what courts do. There's really nothing that is protected from court orders in the US, except for a few well-known, very narrow exemptions.




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