Will this maneuver amount to a congressional pardon via legislation?

[Just Me]

sabra (1000+ posts) Tue Feb-28-06 07:49 AM
Original message
Deal on spy program in works (Bill would let court approve wiretaps)

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2... /

Deal on spy program in works
Bill would let court approve wiretaps

WASHINGTON -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a leading Republican critic of President Bush's domestic spying program, has drafted a bill that would exempt the once-secret surveillance program from a 1978 statute that requires warrants.

The draft bill, which will be aired today at a Judiciary Committee hearing, would require Bush to submit the classified details of the spying program to a special national security court for review. The court would decide whether the program violates the constitutional prohibitions on unreasonable searches.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker has not yet released his bill to the public, but the Globe obtained a draft copy that has been circulating among legal specialists who are set to testify about the spying program at today's hearing.

Specter's proposal appears to offer a face-saving solution to both sides, some specialists said. It avoids declaring whether the program until now has been illegal, but reasserts congressional authority over domestic surveillance going forward.


:shrug: That's what it looks like to me. :grr:

[Cerridwen]

1. Er, if * says it's legal for the pres. to do this, why does it need an

exemption?

I'm so confused. /sarcasm

[Just Me]

2. Who's gonna' be on this "special" court? What's wrong with using,...

,...what's in place (FISA Court)? Are they going to be Bush CYA cronies? What's gonna happen to the warrantless surveillances that violated FISA law? Will this bill be applied retroactively essentially amounting to a pardon of the crimes committed?

I am sick to death of how these jerks game our laws, our nation and our people. :grr:

[PATRICK]

3. the Johannes Tetzel deal

Selling Church indulgences(remitting of debt to be paid off in purgation in the afterlife through piecing out the credits earned by martyrs) so that future sins can be forgiven or just paid off punishment wise.

Under this system, the credits in idealism and blood sacrifice of past American patriots can be applied to crimes against America so that jail time may be waived. It is a bit complicated, but it does get people to shell out for otherwise insincere repentance.

Even better, this outrage kick-started Luther's revolt. So as long as they are going to undo crimes retroactively even if committed with the full intent of subverting law by personal dictatorship, why not
say that the president is pardoned from any future crimes he may commit by virtue of all the sacrifices this great nation has made in the name of its highest ideals? That taken care of, we won't have the Congress coming back in sniveling posture to grant more retroactive pardons.

[Just Me]

4. It's as if the "unitary executive" theory is already being adopted.

The executive can do what it damn well pleases without any accountability, whatsoever. That's a dictatorship, not a democratic institution. What don't people get about that? :shrug:

[PATRICK]

7. Is dictatorship enough?

I really think, unless you want to embarrass Congress in the future, that room for Divinity and a state religion for the same should be left open to. Because what good is it saying I gave you permission to hurt me, therefore I grant ,illegitimacy, if the bully needs to kill you someday?

Sometimes blank checks run out. A Bill of Right needs to be written out that gives every future whim of every future ruler Supreme Authority.

Then burn all those other wordy documents lest they discomfort that High Entity. After all, they might come a Bush who wearies of enjoying these shams, this posturing, this suggestion that someone else has a say no matter the joke being on them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Yes. And I find it shocking that they're going to pardon him

BEFORE the American public gets a chance to find the extent of the wiretaps. There should be NO exemptions made if there is any evidence that they were wiretapping for political reasons instead of national security.

[acmavm]

6. These congressional assholes are taking themselves a bit

to seriously if you ask me. Because the only power they have they get from the people. They certainly seem to have forgotten that.