CRS & Constitutional Law Scholars Weigh in on Warrantless Surveillance

[struggle4progress]

The Congressional Research Service and Constitutional Law Scholars Weigh in on President Bush's Authorization of Warrantless Surveillance

Why This Controversy Bridges the Partisan Divide, At Least Among Experts

By ELAINE CASSEL

... On January 5, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) released its own report on the controversy. And on January 9, fourteen top constitutional law experts and former government officials - among them, prominent conservatives -- sent a letter to Congressional leaders directly responding the December 22 DOJ letter ...

.. the CRS report effectively refutes the Administration's claims that FISA is too slow or cumbersome to be effective in current times. It explains how, under FISA, surveillance can begin prior to receipt of a warrant. (It is also done in secret, without notice to the target.) And it points out that if the President nevertheless feared that FISA warrants would take too long or might somehow "tip off" targets of surveillance, he had only to ask Congress for changes to the law ...

The experts' letter refutes Administration claims that the AUMF and Article II of the Constitution, which includes the "Commander-in-Chief" language, give Bush the authority to disregard FISA and violate the Fourth Amendment. The letter agrees with the CRS report that Bush should have asked the Congress for changes to existing law, rather than proceeding unilaterally - and illegally. And it ends with a stinging admonition: "he President cannot simply violate criminal laws behind closed doors because he deems them obsolete or impracticable" ...

The disclosure of this illegal surveillance program is but one of the many ways in which President Bush, unbeknownst to most Americans, and even the Congress, has carried out his avowed goal (and one frequently touted by Vice-President Cheney) to "restore" the presidency to its stronger, pre-Watergate phase. That's code for creating an executive branch that only obeys the laws it likes--and ignores the rest ...

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/cassel/20060112.html

[sandnsea]

1. Good stuff n/t