Warrantless Wiretapping: The Moment of Truth Has Finally Arrived!
Earl J. Prignitz
December 27, 2005
Well my friends, the moment of truth has finally come for America. It is high time that Americans, regardless of political affiliation, ask a few hard questions. Is the president, who we elect to execute our laws, allowed to pick and choose which laws he wants to obey? Does the president have unlimited power in wartime, even if there never was a formal declaration of war? Does the government have the right to spy on its citizens without judicial oversight?
The eavesdropping scandal that has come to light is not really about the ability of the U.S. government to check on possible terrorist plots. The law governing surveillance fully covers that need -- with one condition: the requirement to get a secret warrant. It even allows, in emergency situations, the surveillance to begin before getting a warrant - as long as the warrant is obtained not more than 72 hours later.
You would think that this provision would cover every actual need to protect America. So why did the President reject the explicit provisions that the law provided? I think that Congress and the American people have a right to know!
This Administration that has given us secret prisons and staunchly defended torture, has manipulated intelligence to justify an unnecessary war, and has treated the Constitution with total disdain, and is certainly capable of spying on its own citizens. The White House can come up with all the excuses and legal hairsplitting it wants. But what President Bush has just revealed he has done is a clear violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That federal law makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, to intentionally conduct electronic surveillance without a search warrant or court order. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush administration has maintained that it has the power to do whatever it deems necessary to protect the nation. President Bush's repeated authorization of secret wiretaps is consistent with this philosophy. Except that certain "security measures," like unauthorized spying on citizens, is still is against the law. There is no language on the books that gives the president the power to conduct surveillance without a court warrant.
Just before the President stormed away from the podium recently, he obstinately declared that he would continue to defy the law by authorizing a permanent campaign of warrantless searches as long as he was president. Maybe it is time to relieve him of that responsibility? Some Senators are saying ?- literally ? "The President is not a king." And some Members of Congress, including John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, are publicly murmuring the I-word: Impeachment. Already from both sides of the partisan aisle calls are coming for a tough Congressional investigation and for a special independent counsel to be named by the Attorney-General to explore possible criminal acts.
If we are a nation of laws there must be a complete and honest investigation of how the Bush administration has conducted the war on terrorism since 9/11. If laws were violated, as they obviously were, people must be punished -- including the president.
The eavesdropping scandal that has come to light is not really about the ability of the U.S. government to check on possible terrorist plots. The law governing surveillance fully covers that need -- with one condition: the requirement to get a secret warrant. It even allows, in emergency situations, the surveillance to begin before getting a warrant - as long as the warrant is obtained not more than 72 hours later.
You would think that this provision would cover every actual need to protect America. So why did the President reject the explicit provisions that the law provided? I think that Congress and the American people have a right to know!
This Administration that has given us secret prisons and staunchly defended torture, has manipulated intelligence to justify an unnecessary war, and has treated the Constitution with total disdain, and is certainly capable of spying on its own citizens. The White House can come up with all the excuses and legal hairsplitting it wants. But what President Bush has just revealed he has done is a clear violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. That federal law makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison, to intentionally conduct electronic surveillance without a search warrant or court order. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush administration has maintained that it has the power to do whatever it deems necessary to protect the nation. President Bush's repeated authorization of secret wiretaps is consistent with this philosophy. Except that certain "security measures," like unauthorized spying on citizens, is still is against the law. There is no language on the books that gives the president the power to conduct surveillance without a court warrant.
Just before the President stormed away from the podium recently, he obstinately declared that he would continue to defy the law by authorizing a permanent campaign of warrantless searches as long as he was president. Maybe it is time to relieve him of that responsibility? Some Senators are saying ?- literally ? "The President is not a king." And some Members of Congress, including John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, are publicly murmuring the I-word: Impeachment. Already from both sides of the partisan aisle calls are coming for a tough Congressional investigation and for a special independent counsel to be named by the Attorney-General to explore possible criminal acts.
If we are a nation of laws there must be a complete and honest investigation of how the Bush administration has conducted the war on terrorism since 9/11. If laws were violated, as they obviously were, people must be punished -- including the president.
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