Travis Seitler

Bush on wiretaps: Court Order Required

Keep in mind the warrantless wiretaps have been going on since, oh, 2002?

Bush: “Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order…“

(HT: Glenn Greenwald.)

More on Bush, NSA and FISA

The Administration’s humiliation of Congress

Since the NSA scandal began, one of the most bizarre aspects of the story is that the Administration has been claiming that Congress authorized it to eavesdrop in violation of FISA, but the Congress which is said to have done so had no idea that the Administration was engaged in warrantless eavesdropping and had no idea that it had authorized eavesdropping in violation of FISA. Beyond that fact, the actions of the Congress throughout 2002 make undeniably clear that Congress was not only completely unaware that the Administration was eavesdropping outside of FISA, but also that Congress was deliberately misled by the Administration into believing that FISA continued to govern the Administration’s eavesdropping activities.

I highly recommend bookmarking Glenn’s blog. He’s putting the pieces together…

Bush and FISA, or “Is Laziness Impeachable?”

Just look at all the attention this whole Bush/NSA/FISA fiasco is getting!

Good. There’s a reason the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was put there, and it wasn’t for a President to just ignore whenever he felt like it.

And no, the ends don’t justify the means. This nation is supposed to be one which follows the Lex Rex principle: “The Law is King.” George W. Bush is a servant of the citizens of the United States (not vice-versa), and he is only allowed to serve in the manner defined in the Constitution. Said Constitution clearly states,

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Any president who violates his oath to uphold the Constitution (of which the Fourth Amendment is a part) ought to be removed from office. Period.