Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Warrantless Wiretaps (NSA Surveillance)

If this opinion piece from The Oregonian is correct, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) specifically allows for warrantless surveillance "during times of war".

Wouldn't that make this whole brouhaha moot, except as a means to score points with the Democratic base?

Additionally, a 2002 ruling by the FISA court (In Re Sealed Case) stated the following at the bottom of page 11:

"We take for granted that the President does have that authority (to conduct
warrantless surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence information) and,
assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional
power."


How could it be any more clear?

Here's a letter from Attorney General Gonzales to Senate Majority Leader Frist. Scroll down to the analysis starting on page 6, where the AG outlines several court cases (including the one above) where courts have consistently ruled that the President has the constitutional authority to conduct this warrantless surveillance.

This whole issue is manufactured.
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6 comments:

  1. Old Math1:01 PM

    There is a portion of the population that wants to blame EVERYTHING, from global warming to the poor quality of public education to Islamic fundamentalism on one person, the duly elected president of the United States. It must give comfort to know that all these complicated problems have a single, easy to understand cause.

    With that as your premise it is easy to make the jump from surveillance of the enemy in time to domestic spying without touching a single fact along the way.

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  2. KauaiMark12:18 AM

    If it's good enough for Jack Bauer at CTU to catch terrorists, then it's good enough for me.

    (24 is the best!)

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  3. Darren6:36 AM

    The President has not broken the law except in the minds of you Bush-haters, who consider it breaking the law every time the man takes a breath.

    It is you who will destroy America by turning us away from a nation of laws (which I've already pointed out, he's obeying) into a tyranny of the politically-correct elite.

    3 more years. Deal with it.

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  4. Darren6:47 AM

    Anonymous, I recommend you read this post on Bush Derangement Syndrome, or BDS.
    http://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2005/11/psychiatrist-discusses-bush.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Daniel Q Blog1:51 PM

    BDS, hiliarious...
    What's the cure? I should check the link.

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  6. Darren9:06 PM

    The cure for BDS? A different Republican in the White House in January, 2009. =)

    ReplyDelete