Presidents have been impeached for much less than this, reported in the New York Times: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts. (with follow-up in the Washington Post)
Anyone who calls themselves a Republican—governments of laws and not men—should be embarrassed at this belief that the president is somehow above the law when there's a national security justification. Same goes for "small r" republicans, which I take most Americans to be. There's a word for this form of government that consists of the executive perceiving a threat to the nation and acting secretly against it: monarchy.
Posted by robe0419 at December 16, 2005 12:07 PM | TrackBackDid you notice your screen flicker when you posted this? Seriously, spooky, Orwellian and very un-American during times of peace. But sometimes I wonder if necessary because I believe there are cells in this country that we need spooky stuff like this to listen in on. This republic tends to do desperate and perhaps unfair things when it is threatened. Such as: Lincoln suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus and FDR locking up Americans because they were Japanese Americans. I think your point in your posting is that this what-me-worry executive is not being checked or was not checked and we instead impeached a self-serving clown that played hide the cigar in the oval office. What would DeTocqueville say to all this?
Posted by: Duncan at December 16, 2005 10:47 PMI would distinguish between the policy--using the NSA to spy on people inside America--and the legality of it.
I think there's a good case for the government to spy on some groups, with some safeguards and oversight. But for better or worse, the law was changed in the 1970s to make it illegal for this to be done.
If it had been proposed in the two years or so after September 11th that this law be changed, it would have passed relatively easily. But it wasn't changed, the administration just went ahead and did what it liked.
The law may be an ass, but that's not a defence that stands up in court.
Posted by: evan at December 17, 2005 01:52 PM