An article in the New York Times discusses the recent FISA legislature & it turns out fears about the spying program have already been validated.
“This may give the administration even more authority than people thought,” said David Kris, a former senior Justice Department lawyer in the Bush and Clinton administrations
And there’s this, as well:
Whether intentional or not, the end result — according to top Democratic aides and other experts on national security law — is that the legislation may grant the government the right to collect a range of information on American citizens inside the United States without warrants, as long as the administration asserts that the spying concerns the monitoring of a person believed to be overseas.
Of course, top aides to the president claim these new powers won’t be abused, but can you really trust them, when they won’t even agree to abide by the law itself:
Yet Bush administration officials have already signaled that, in their view, the president retains his constitutional authority to do whatever it takes to protect the country, regardless of any action Congress takes. At a tense meeting last week with lawyers from a range of private groups active in the wiretapping issue, senior Justice Department officials refused to commit the administration to adhering to the limits laid out in the new legislation and left open the possibility that the president could once again use what they have said in other instances is his constitutional authority to act outside the regulations set by Congress.
They’re basically saying, “We’ll follow the law, as long as it let’s us do exactly what we want. If it doesn’t, then we’re not bound to obey it.”
And where are the Democrats in all of this? Right where Bush wants them, of course, metaphorically cowering in the corner…
Though many Democratic leaders opposed the final version of the legislation, they did not work forcefully to block its passage, largely out of fear that they would be criticized by President Bush and Republican leaders during the August recess as being soft on terrorism.
Full story here.
