Spying was a blatant and arrogant violation of American law

So much for protecting Constitution

By Geoffrey R. Stone, law professor at the University of Chicago and the author of "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime"
Published December 21, 2005


The facts of this case: In early 2002, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to monitor international telephone calls and international e-mail messages without any showing of probable cause to believe that a participant in the communication was involved in unlawful or terrorist activity, and without obtaining a search warrant from a court of law. This action was a direct violation of federal law and the United States Constitution.

Snip…

Nonetheless, Bush has the audacity to assert that his authorization of NSA surveillance of American citizens on American soil was "lawful." It was not. It was a blatant and arrogant violation of American law. If Bush wanted the authority to undertake such surveillance, he should have gone directly to Congress and sought such authorization, publicly. He did not do this, because it would not have been granted. So, instead of acting in accord with his pledge to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," he acted surreptitiously and unconstitutionally. What is revealing about Bush's view of the terrorists is that he apparently believes they assume we act within the bounds of our own Constitution. So, he decided, we'll trick them. We won't.

President Bush believes that whatever he thinks is necessary must be lawful, whether it be domestic surveillance by NSA, or torture, or denying the Guantanamo Bay detainees the protections of the Geneva Conventions. Bush is a man of faith, not a man of law. That is a problem.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0512210141dec21,1,1669177.story?coll=chi-technology-hed

By now every law school in the country must have someone who has commented. I suspect it is very long on the Bush Broke the Law, but it would be interesting to know the ratio.

I make sure I click to look at the original and
use the website's email this story link.

If we all did this, I think it might be more effective
than DU'ing polls and rating yahoo stories.

Thanks for posting the link.

>I make sure I click to look at the original and
use the website's email this story link.

If we all did this, I think it might be more effective
than DU'ing polls and rating yahoo stories.

Thanks for posting the link.