It’s old, but there is a Supreme Court opinion on this very subject. I
believe it was Justice David Davis who wrote:
“The constitution of the United
States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and peace, and
covers with its shield of protection all classes of men, at all times and under
all circumstances. No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences
was ever invented by the wit of men that any of its great provisions can be
suspended during any of the great exigencies of Government”
There is no allowances for times of war in the 4th.
Dec. 19, 2005 Attorny Gozales was just laughable:
ATTY GEN GONZALES: “If we — but there are standards that have to be met, obviously, and you’re right, there is a procedure where we — an emergency procedure that allows us to make a decision to authorize — to utilize FISA, and then we go to the court and get confirmation of that authority.”
He was doin’ so fine, too. then couldn’t help but step in it anyway, by lying.
“But, again, FISA is very important in the war on terror, but it doesn’t provide the speed and the agility that we need in all circumstances to deal with this new kind of threat.”
Complete BS !
FISA has the 3-day grace period! They can begin any kind of
surveillance they like, the instant they learn of the danger. You can’t
have a freer hand than that! Because they don’t want to reveal what
they really want, they’ve led themselves into another lie.
What they wanted isn’t about terrorism at all. But it had been one of Ashcroft’s pet projects for years. Wholesale spying on the american public. But while the Pat. Act eases up some of the requirements it did not give Ashcroft that ability. They were still required to go through the motions set out in the 4th.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: “Well, of course, it does not [allow that]. I was there when that happened. I remember just briefly before we passed the resolution to go after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Them (John Ashcroft & crew) coming up and saying, by the way, could we expand this to give us other powers beyond the law? We said no. And yet, we hear people like Michael Chertoff, the head of the homeland security, suggesting that thousands of Americans had been wiretapped and been spied upon.”
This has been the agenda all along. In fact the whole thing is similar to what happened during the passage of the 1996 laws, right after the OKC bombings. Those proved no more effective, and were just as unconstitutional.
One report I read said the NSA was processing the messages of nearly 500 people a day. Now, if the american public is joining up or aiding Al Qaeda at a rate of 500 a day, then someone has drastically underestimated our predicament.
No, what they want is to be able to conduct mass surveillance without it being tainted by how they got it, tuck it away and pour over it.
Their biggest trouble is they don’t even bother to keep track of their story. Here’s the white house from June 9, 2005:
“Wiretaps and search warrants require a high level of proof and permission from a judge. The tools in the Patriot Act are fully consistent with the U.S. Constitution.Congress created a Civil Liberties Board to ensure the Patriot Act and other laws uphold civil liberties. The Patriot Act protects America and defends American liberties.”
And notice that statement was made in direct response to the Patriot Act and FISA, not state, and local police authority, as they’ve used in the last few days.
So there you have both Bush and Gonzales acknowledging that a warant is still required… yet they did this anyway. Gonzales is also on record saying the reason they didn’t try to go back and get more leeway was they didn’t think they’d get it… so, do it anyway.
Their line of bluster about Bush having the authority anyway, whether through “implied consent” of Congress, or their ludicrous claim about it being in Article II of the Constitution, is just that.
Personally I think Dick Cheny’s been smokin’ his running socks, and has let slip his arrogance again. Brow beating the press about the “terrible damage” to national security done by making this public though brings me to the end of my good humor, on this.
Orwell was just an amatuer when he wrote about, “Up is down, black is white, etc.” After all, this crew has been facing us with a straight face for weeks now, telling us, “It’s a crime, to report a crime.”