What Constitution are these guys reading?

[helderheid]

Special Edition: Civil Liberties Update

In this issue:

1. Administration Buckles on Warrantless NSA
Spying. or Does It?

2. Little-known Provision in Patriot Act Rears its
Ugly Head

3. Detainee Debate Reignites

Administration Buckles on Warrantless NSA Spying. or Does It?

Last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent a letter to top-ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee making it known that the administration had submitted the infamous NSA warrantless wiretapping program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for review. However, the attorney general's description of the measures taken is vague and raises more questions than it answers.

If this is truly a step back toward crucial checks and balances, that is certainly a good thing, but the exact nature of the judicial review provided by the FISC is still not known. Worse, this could be an attempted end-run around much-needed congressional oversight.

PFAW and PFAW Foundation are working with our allies on Capitol Hill and in the civil liberties advocacy community to get to the bottom of this. The so-called 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' has been operating illegally for years and we hope the recent steps taken by the administration protect Americans' constitutional rights. But any program like this must have adequate oversight and those who have broken the law in the past must be held accountable.


Little-known Provision in Patriot Act Rears its Ugly Head

A provision in the Patriot Act reauthorization bill allows the Attorney General to fill U.S. attorney vacancies with interim appointments that can remain indefinitely, circumventing the usual Senate approval of these appointments.

U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, so the administration can ask for their resignation at any time - and the administration has done just that to several U.S. attorneys in recent months. What is noteworthy is which ones have resigned. It seems that some of the U.S. attorneys who have left their posts may been involved in investigations the administration would not be happy about. In at least one case, the vacancy was filled by a partisan operative - Karl Rove's former deputy.

Senator Feinstein (D-CA), along with Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Pryor (D-AR), has introduced legislation (S. 214) that would fix this affront to checks and balances and remove the attorney general's authority to fill U.S. attorney vacancies until another official appointment can be made, giving the authority back to the local district court (where it was before the Patriot Act changed it).


Detainee Debate Reignites

Last week, Attorney General Gonzales testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and confounded members by making the ridiculous assertion that habeas corpus was not guaranteed by the Constitution. While Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" had some fun with the exchange, it's a very serious matter when the attorney general of the United States of America so dangerously misinterprets the Constitution at the expense of fundamental rights.

At issue is the Military Commissions Act passed last year, which precludes habeas corpus relief in many detainee cases. With the Pentagon's release of new rules on how the military will handle detainees, the debate on this unconstitutional bill has been reignited in Congress. High on PFAW's civil liberties agenda is rolling back provisions of this bill and re-establishing a respect for due process rights, and indeed for human rights. Specifically, we will strongly support serious legislative attempts to restore habeas corpus and strengthen policies against the torture and mistreatment of detainees.

(Oh, and for the record Mr. Attorney General, Article I, Section 9, Clause 2 of the Constitution reads: "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.")

[mmonk]

1. The make it up as you go along one.