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January 17, 2007
In the Face of the Threat of Congressional Oversight . . .
. . . things change. I cite two headlines from today's news:
"U.S., N. Korea in talks again amid breakthrough hopes" from Reuters
and
"Administration to let court monitor domestic spying" from CNN.
The first has been the reasonable approach to a very dangerous situation for quite a while and the second corrects a fairly obvious constitutional breach. I just hope that neither of these is a PR sham that ends with something like, "See we tried but it just isn't working."
Anyway, this is a good start and the new Congress didn't have to do anything but get elected. Let's see what can be accomplished when Congress actually does something.
Posted by Duane Smith at January 17, 2007 9:37 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
Duane,
Having studied constitutional law and being conversant in what the media is mis-labeling "domestic spying," I have to go on record as opposing the second point most strenuously.
Yours
Joe
Posted by: Joe Cathey at January 18, 2007 6:06 AM
Joe,
Even if you believe, I think incorrectly, that State side automated phone and email scanning are not covered under "unreasonable search and seizer," they are a violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The Administration has itself admitted as much when it uses language like "out dated" and so forth to describe the act. When Administration actions or policies are in conflict with the law of the land as adopted by Congress and signed by the President at the time the law was passed, there is a "fairly obvious constitutional breach." As Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas said of the new approach, "It proves that this surveillance has always been possible under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and that there was never a good reason to evade the law." And this was something the administration denied for a very long times.
Posted by: Duane at January 18, 2007 7:01 AM
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