John Nichols (The Nation): Russ Feingold's Legal Firepower

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Nation
Dated Thursday March 30

Russ Feingold's Legal Firepower
By John Nichols

Congressional Democrats have pretty much abandoned their Constitutionally-mandated responsibility to check and balance the excesses to the executive branch – so much so that the one Democrat who seeks to hold President Bush to account for ordering the warrantless wiretapping of American's telephone conversations accuses for party's leaders of "cowering."

So where is Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold finding support?

Among Republicans. Or, more precisely, among prominent alumni of past Republican administrations.

When the Senate Judiciary Committee convenes as extraordinary session on Friday to consider the Feingold's motion to censure the president for ordering federal agencies to engage in eavesdropping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's requirement that judicial approval be obtained for wiretaps of Americans in the United States, the dissenting senator will call two witnesses. Making arguments about the extreme seriousness of the warrantless wiretapping issue -- and the need for a Congressional response -- will be noted constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, who served in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice as Deputy Attorney General, and author and legal commentator John Dean, who served at Richard Nixon's White House counsel before breaking with the president to reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Watergate era.

Read more.

[montanacowboy]

1. Sad sorry ass Democrats

can you believe it? Russ has to go to Republicans to boost his case for censure

[Jack Rabbit]

2. It's a little like after the Patriot Act passed in 2001

Apart from the fact that Feingold was the only member of the Senate to get it right, we were depending on the likes of Bob Barr and Grover Norquist to criticize the act.

Congressional Democrats should have hung their heads in shame over that.