http://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/06/well-thatll-show-em.htmlMarty Lederman
"By all accounts, the congressional Democrats have almost entirely capitulated to the White House on FISA reform: "The proposal — particularly the immunity provision
— represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. 'I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get,' said Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, who led the negotiations."
...But hey, the Dems got something really, really big in return for giving the Administration over 100 pages of concessions:
Perhaps the most important concession that Democratic leaders claimed was a reaffirmation that the intelligence protocols were the “exclusive” means for the executive branch to conduct wiretapping operations in terrorism and espionage cases. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had insisted on that element, and Democratic staff members asserted that the language would prevent Mr. Bush, or any future president, from circumventing the law. The proposal asserts “that the law is the exclusive authority and not the whim of the president of the United States,” Ms. Pelosi said.
Note the key word: reaffirmation. The Democrats worked long and hard to include in the bill a provision (stating that FISA and other specified statutes are to be "the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance and the interception of domestic wire, oral, or electronic communications may be conducted") that is, for all intents and purposes, a reenactment of the current 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(f), which has been the backbone of FISA for 30 years..."
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