Jan 8, 2006

Warrantless Surveillance

by Liberty and Power

Here (.pdf) is a copy of the new CRS report on warrantless surveillance by the executive that made the front page of the Washington Post today. According to the Post:

A report by Congress's research arm concluded yesterday that the administration's justification for the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law and hinges on weak legal arguments.
The Congressional Research Service's report rebuts the central assertions made recently by Bush and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales about the president's authority to order secret intercepts of telephone and e-mail exchanges between people inside the United States and their contacts abroad.

I haven't read it yet.

More Comments:

Sudha Shenoy - 1/8/2006

In wartime, all normal limits on the exercise of power are suspended -- for the duration of the war. This war is eternal. Therefore civil liberties can never be restored. QED.

How to break the logic? Deny there is a war. Or argue that even in wartime, the exercise of power must be limited. Or, cut back the State's resources -- reduce taxation...