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Investigating Warrantless Domestic Spying

Law Prof. Karl Tobias argues that Congress must investigate the NSA's warrantless surveillance program, despite the Attorney General's belated assurance that the administration will cooperate with FISA courts in the future.

Congress must expeditiously acquire all of the applicable data that lawmakers need to make the most informed determinations. Once Congress systematically assembles and evaluates pertinent material, it should guarantee that the program appropriately balances national security and civil liberties.

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    No Hereditary Kings in America (none / 0) (#1)
    by eve on Wed Jan 31, 2007 at 11:20:10 AM EST
    Sadly, it is quite predictable of the Bush administration to come forward at the 11th hour with an empty, disingenuous statement about the president's commitment to "using all lawful tools to protect our Nation," as provided by the FISA courts.  For nearly five years before being uncovered by the New York Times, the president continued to give the nod to this secret program of warrantless, indefinite and unlimited domestic surveillance of American citizens, violating the very FISA court he now concedes has a role in such activity.  

    This back-flip by the Bush administration to avoid the scrutiny by its fellow branches comes at absolutely no surprise. But we must demand more of a president and an investigation from Congress into the warrantless surveillance program.  

    January 31, 2007
    Op-Ed Contributor
    Bush Is Not Above the Law
    By JAMES BAMFORD
    Washington

    LAST August, a federal judge found that the president of the United States broke the law, committed a serious felony and violated the Constitution. Had the president been an ordinary citizen -- someone charged with bank robbery or income tax evasion -- the wheels of justice would have immediately begun to turn. The F.B.I. would have conducted an investigation, a United States attorney's office would have impaneled a grand jury and charges would have been brought.

    But under the Bush Justice Department, no F.B.I. agents were ever dispatched to padlock White House files or knock on doors and no federal prosecutors ever opened a case.

    The ruling was the result of a suit, in which I am one of the plaintiffs, brought against the National Security Agency by the American Civil Liberties Union. It was a response to revelations by this newspaper in December 2005 that the agency had been monitoring the phone calls and e-mail messages of Americans for more than four years without first obtaining warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

    In the past, even presidents were not above the law. When the F.B.I. turned up evidence during Watergate that Richard Nixon had obstructed justice by trying to cover up his involvement, a special prosecutor was named and a House committee recommended that the president be impeached.

    And when an independent counsel found evidence that President Bill Clinton had committed perjury in the Monica Lewinsky case, the impeachment machinery again cranked into gear, with the spectacle of a Senate trial (which ended in acquittal).

    Laws are broken, the federal government investigates, and the individuals involved -- even if they're presidents -- are tried and, if found guilty, punished. That is the way it is supposed to work under our system of government.

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