Greenwald on Specter's surrender (NO judicial ruling on NSA program)

[enough]

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/05/gop-senators-block-judicial-review-of.html

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

GOP Senators block judicial review of NSA program

A front-page article in this morning's The Hill reports that Sen. Specter has finally made enough concessions to secure the support of the more right-wing members of the Judiciary Committee for his legislation that (along with a bill from Sen. DeWine) would render legal the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program. As part of this negotiation, what were these Bush allies (Hatch, Sessions, Cornyn, Kyl) holding out for? The removal from Sen. Specter's bill of a clause that would mandate that the FISA court rule on the legality and constitutionality of the NSA program. As usual, the thing which Bush supporters fear most - and which they most desperately seek to avoid - is a judicial ruling on the legality of the administration's behavior.

snip>

Could anything be more obvious at this point than the fact that the Bush administration deeply fears having the legality of its eavesdropping activities adjudicated by a federal court? They have engaged in one maneuver after the next to prevent that adjudication.

One would think that if they really believed that they had the clear-cut legal justification for warrantless eavesdropping which they claim to have, they would be eager to have a court rule on this issue so that this unpleasant controversy -- with all of these mean-spirited and utterly baseless allegations of lawbreaking -- can finally be put to rest. And yet, time and again, they do precisely the opposite: they desperately invoke every available measure to prevent any judicial ruling as to the legality of their behavior.

Without the provision which was originally "demanded" by Sen. Specter, it is basically impossible for any plaintiff to ever challenge the legality of the NSA program. In very general terms, in order to have standing to bring such a suit, a plaintiff would have to prove that they have been specifically injured by the warrantless eavesdropping beyond the injuries of an average citizen. But the program is secret and there have been no investigations into it. As a result, nobody knows whose calls have been intercepted without warrants.

more>


See DU thread on the HILL article.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2286960

[jimshoes]

1. Anybody doubt we're

being taken over by fascists? Redress of grievances... gone, privacy.... gone, freedom of speech... gone! And all this with a preznit polling at 29%!!! Incredible.

[TacticalPeek]

2. Surprise!

Specter is a mealy-mouthed asswipe. Who'da thunk?

[Nickster]

3. Yet people keep falling for his BS just like they fall for McCain. Specter

doesn't believe a thing he tells us, it just buys him and the GOP time to figure out a way to weasel out of any accountability.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. K & R.

[gratuitous]

5. What? Specter talked tough, but acted scared?

My goodness, that's the first time that's happened! Today.

[enough]

6. Sometimes I wonder what exactly he is afraid of. (nt)

[Flubadubya]

7. Just wait until there is a Democratic President....

and Congress. Won't they just love their "law-making" then? :puke:

[Avalux]

10. Will there be fair elections?

If we can't guarantee that - these assholes will be in power forever.

[glitch]

8. make that five. nt

[treestar]

9. This FISA court still isn't even a judicial court, it is an administrative

court, part of the executive branch.

They are full of "no judicial review" provisions which proves Congress is spineless. They are handing their own power over to the executive along with the judicial branches, apparently in the naive assumption that the executive will even bother with following the law. If the executive can't be reviewed, they do what they want.

[enough]

11. Catches the Catch 22 --

snip from Greenwald>

Therefore, any would-be plaintiff would be immediately trapped in the type of preposterous, bureaucratic Catch-22 in which American law specializes and which the Bush administration is eager to exploit -- namely, since nobody knows whose conversations have been eavesdropped on, nobody could ever make the showing necessary to maintain such a lawsuit, and since the administration claims that all such information is highly classified, the evidence necessary to make that showing can never be obtained. Thus, in the absence of the provision in Sen. Specter's bill, the administration would be able, in virtually all circumstances, to block a ruling on the legality of the NSA eavesdropping program:

snip>

[struggle4progress]

12. More collaborators.