"Justice Department offers legal basis for wiretaps"

[in_cog_ni_to]

Justice Department offers legal basis for wiretaps
From Kevin Bohn and Bill Mears
CNN Washington Bureau


Friday, January 20, 2006; Posted: 10:17 a.m. EST (15:17 GMT)


President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor some phone calls without seeking a warrant.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department has issued a detailed legal justification for President Bush's decision to order the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program.


<snip>
"Congress by statute has confirmed and supplemented the president's recognized authority under Article II of the Constitution to conduct such warrantless surveillance to prevent catastrophic attacks on the homeland," the Justice Department document said.<snip>


ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero criticized the release of the new legal review.

"Any opinion coming from the Justice Department has to be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism, given Attorney General Gonzales' involvement in the warrantless spying as White House counsel," he said in a written statement. "The fox may now be guarding the henhouse, which is why we need an independent special counsel."<snip>

<snip>
Justice Department lawyers argued this program was part of the government's need to gather foreign intelligence, which does not explicitly require agents to go through the process of getting a warrant, as is required under the FISA law.

In a press briefing, Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury said the Justice Department believes the monitoring can be done legally outside the normal scope of the FISA law. He argued that the congressional authorization to use military force allows such surveillance since intercepting an enemy's communications is a key part of engaging in war.<snip>



http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/20/doj.nsawiretaps/

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Umm...

Congress by statute has confirmed and supplemented the president's recognized authority under Article II of the Constitution

Say what, now?

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. LOL...they're grasping at straws. They know they broke the freakin' law.

:)