Terry filed a writ of mandamus in the Second Circuit and it was dismissed as premature.

In October, 2006, Terry's client in the case, Mr. Yassin, was convicted of 20 out of 30 counts and was sentenced to 15 years.

Terry's appellate brief is now almost done and he expects to file it shortly -- as soon as he can whittle it down to an appropriate length from its current 215 pages.

One of the major points in the Yassin brief is the illegality of the NSA warrantless wiretaps. In light of the 6th Circuit dismissal, Terry's case may be first in line to have the issue reviewed by a mid-level appellate court.Again, under the facts and circumstances of the case, it is extremely unlikely that standing is going to be a problem.

Terry would like it known that " If anybody wants to file an amicus brief we would rejoice." Terry's contact information is available here.

As another one of our defender friends says, "The Fourth Amendment is not dead, it's just sleeping..." Terry believes it's time we woke it up.

Note to Terry: I hope this and this are going to be appellate issues in the case as well.

[A guest post by Terry on the issue of our how we treat our returning soldiers in which he describes his background is here. And don't get him started on Fallujah.]