Feingold: Wiretap Ruling No Big Deal

[babylonsister]

Feingold: Wiretap Ruling No Big Deal
By Zachary Roth - January 16, 2009, 4:46PM


We wrote earlier about the still-murky significance of a FISA court's ruling that a law passed by Congress in 2007, giving the president the power to conduct warrantless wiretaps, is constitutional.

And now Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin senator who has led Democrats' efforts to oppose Bush on the issue, has weighed in to help make the case that the decision is limited in its implications.

In a statement just distributed to reporters, Feingold declared that the court's decision "in no way validates or bolsters the president's illegal warrantless wiretapping program."

He continued:

It did not support the President's claim of inherent constitutional authority to violate the law. In fact, the court explicitly stated that "we caution that our decision does not constitute an endorsement of broad-based, indiscriminate executive power."

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

On the Decision by the FISA Court of Review

"The recently declassified decision by the FISA Court of Review in no way validates or bolsters the president's illegal warrantless wiretapping program. The decision, which only addressed surveillance authorized by the Protect America Act (PAA) enacted in August 2007, did not support the President's claim of constitutional authority to violate the law. Nor did the decision uphold the constitutionality of the PAA in all cases, but rather it upheld only the Act's application in this particular case. Finally, it is my view that the Court's analysis would have been fundamentally altered if the company that brought the case had been aware of, and thus able to raise, problems related to the government's implementation of the law, about which I have repeatedly raised concerns in classified settings."

Senator Feingold is a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.


Fact Sheet on the FISA Court of Review Decision on the Protect America Act @ link...

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/feingold_wiretap_ruling_no_big_deal.php

[ThomWV]

1. Obama should share Senator Feingold's stance on this issue

This is a refreshing view on the FISA (kangaroo) Court's ruling.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. at least we have a new president now