Bush overreaches on FISA (Plain Dealer)

[struggle4progress]

... The president wants, and Specter offers, a declaration of unilateral presidential authority to spy on Americans without the encumbrance of a warrant. That, in essence, would be a nullification of the Fourth Amendment's protection against warrantless searches and seizures.

It would leave to the president's discretion whether to seek authority from a FISA judge for any wiretapping or interception he or his representatives might think necessary. It would place the president not merely above the law, but above the Constitution. And that's a place no American president may stand.

FISA can be made more nimble. The number of its judges can be expanded to provide more immediate access to judicial oversight of intelligence requests.

But Congress cannot give away that which it has no authority to cede - the protections afforded each American citizen, no matter how vile, from the overweening power of the central government ...

http://www.cleveland.com/politics/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1154162290182370.xml&coll=2

[Stargazer99]

1. Just watch the gutless bastards!

While the Bushbots support this travesity...like children...they think Bush will protect us. How dumb can Americans get? After being warned 51 times by our Federal agencies Bush says who would have guessed they'd fly into the World Trade Center....kool aid drinkers!