Why do you think the charges were filed in Eastern Virginia (home of the security establishment) and not Hawaii, whi h is the home of Snowden and the scene of the alleged crime?
Are you saying no one in all of eastern Virginia is able to get a fair trial? If true that would be a far worse crisis for civil liberties than an automated FISA-compliance system.
No, of course I'm not. Moreover, reframing the dynamic that exists between a particular plaintiff and a particular defendant in a particular case by turning it into a blanket assumption as general as that is either stupid, dishonest, or both. Seriously, why would I do that? More pointedly, what makes you even raise the question?
Jurisdiction shopping is a very real problem, as HN readers who follow patent issues know all too well. Anyone insisting that Snowden's trial would be fair should pay more attention to the way the field is being tilted against him from the outset.
They filed it in an area where the majority of the population will have an opinion against Snowden vs. a place where opinions may be more divided. If you were Snowden would want your jury pool to be from an area with a high concentration of people with government / security / high-clearance jobs? Or would you want jury selection to be from a pool of people that would be more willing to weigh the evidence and arguments.
