Undoing The Constitution
I suppose I should be cheered that the President is actually going to Congress with a proposal to change the FISA law instead of just ignoring the law as he has for the past six years, but I'm not. If Congress refuses to enact the bill, Mr. Bush will simply proceed as he has. Still, at least he has given Congress a chance to examine the whole sorry mess this administration has made of the Fourth Amendment, and he has given the press a chance to publicize just how this administration operates. From an editorial in today's NY Times:
Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the fundamental constitutional principle — over which there can be no negotiation or compromise — that the government must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American or someone living here legally.
To heighten the false urgency, the Bush administration will present this issue, as it has before, as a choice between catching terrorists before they act or blinding the intelligence agencies. But the administration has never offered evidence that the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, hampered intelligence gathering after the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Bush simply said the law did not apply to him.
The director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, said yesterday that the evidence of what is wrong with FISA was too secret to share with all Americans. ...
Mr. Bush’s motivations for submitting this bill now seem obvious. The courts have rejected his claim that 9/11 gave him virtually unchecked powers, and he faces a Democratic majority in Congress that is willing to exercise its oversight responsibilities. That, presumably, is why his bill grants immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated in five years of illegal eavesdropping. It also strips the power to hear claims against the spying program from all courts except the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which meets in secret. [Emphasis added]
While I happen to think Mr. Bush's motivation for submitting the bill has more to do with engaging in a little dog-and-pony show than with acknowledging the powers of the other two branches of government, I also think the editorialist got the rest of it right. I think we've finally come to the point where the "terra terra terra" excuse for the usurpation of powers by this would-be "unitary president" just isn't going to work anymore.
At least I hope so.
Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the fundamental constitutional principle — over which there can be no negotiation or compromise — that the government must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American or someone living here legally.
To heighten the false urgency, the Bush administration will present this issue, as it has before, as a choice between catching terrorists before they act or blinding the intelligence agencies. But the administration has never offered evidence that the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, hampered intelligence gathering after the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Bush simply said the law did not apply to him.
The director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, said yesterday that the evidence of what is wrong with FISA was too secret to share with all Americans. ...
Mr. Bush’s motivations for submitting this bill now seem obvious. The courts have rejected his claim that 9/11 gave him virtually unchecked powers, and he faces a Democratic majority in Congress that is willing to exercise its oversight responsibilities. That, presumably, is why his bill grants immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated in five years of illegal eavesdropping. It also strips the power to hear claims against the spying program from all courts except the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which meets in secret. [Emphasis added]
While I happen to think Mr. Bush's motivation for submitting the bill has more to do with engaging in a little dog-and-pony show than with acknowledging the powers of the other two branches of government, I also think the editorialist got the rest of it right. I think we've finally come to the point where the "terra terra terra" excuse for the usurpation of powers by this would-be "unitary president" just isn't going to work anymore.
At least I hope so.
Labels: Domestic Spying, Fourth Amendment
posted by Diane at 3:46 AM
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