Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

A matter of privacy?

Austin American-Statesman:

Hundreds of convicted sex offenders and other violent-crime parolees from Louisiana who fled to Texas as hurricane refugees have remained unsupervised for more than a month because federal officials have yet to release information on their whereabouts, state officials complained Monday.

They blame Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, who cite privacy laws in withholding the data.

"When the storm hit, Texas opened its arms to help our neighbors in Louisiana any way we could," said Robert Black, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. "Now, we're trying to do the same thing regarding public safety . . . And the problem is FEMA will not release the information on the people who came into Texas."

FEMA officials' response: We're waiting on Texas. That's because Louisiana officials have just begun giving Texas the names of registered sex offenders and violent crime parolees. FEMA says it's waiting for Texas to then turn over those names to the federal government to be cross-checked with the names of evacuees who are registered with FEMA.

"We've said we'd do what we need to to provide that information," said Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokeswoman in Washington. "It won't be an exchange (of information), though. They will turn over their lists to FEMA, and we will check those names against our lists."

...

Several weeks ago, frustrated San Antonio law enforcement authorities created a task force to try to track down Louisiana sex offenders. Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commander who heads the FEMA team responding to Katrina, quickly promised to clear any red tape. Still, Texas officials said, little happened.

That might be because Louisiana officials provided the list of sex offenders only a few days ago. And information on the violent-crime parolees is still incomplete, though Louisiana officials have promised it within a few days, Texas officials said. Louisiana officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

FEMA officials would not predict how long it will take for them to check the lists once they are provided by Texas.

Here is the answer. By law the sex offenders are required to register their current address. If they are no longer at their address in Louisiana, then they are in violation of the law and should have no expectation of privacy. The same goes for parolees who are suppose to notify the parole board of their location. The explanation from FEMA officials as reported does not make sense from a legal point of view much less a common sense point of view. Is the ACLU in charge of this aspect of FEMA?