The Democrats cannot run and hide from this behavior.

Keep the pressure up on them to do the right thing. It will be interesting to see Obama's position clarified.

Kudos again for serious and thought provoking work in this ongoing struggle.

Let's assume that the Shrub issues preemptive pardons in the FISA violation matter. He probably can't pardon himself. If his pardons are issued in furtherance, after the fact, of a crime that he is complicit in, would the pardon itself be an obstruction of justice and or another criminal conspiracy offence?

(1) As indicated, Judge Walker became the third federal Judge to reject the Bush administration's legal excuse for breaking the law. -- GG

It might not be as important as a ruling but it may be worth noting that, from early on, there may have been others who rejected BushCo's lawlessness. Comments in the previous thread reminded me of this:

US District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), has resigned in protest over the National Security Agency's secret domestic surveillance program...

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/12/fisc-judge-resigns-in-protest-over-nsa.php

If this be a first draft of history, Glenn, I'm willing to wager it will need very few revisions when the history books are written.

Could it possibly, possibly, be made any clearer?

Obama, it's as plain as the nose on your face.

I talk about this issue every day with one new person. It's a goal I've set for myself. I guess it makes me a crashing bore, but I am willing to risk stigmatization for this one.

I seem to recall concern that pushing back hard against Bush might end up with this Supreme Court issuing ruling on the extent of presidential power (and issuing the WRONG rulings) ... so avoidance was preferable to having a bad Supreme Court ruling.

Don't know if this was just idle speculation or not ... it was a while back ...

Bush doesn't obey the law, congress doesn't obey the law, hell, the DOJ doesn't obey the law. This country has been taken over by corporate criminals. Congress is full of 'em as is the WH. So face it, there is nothing we can do. They do not respond to letters or phone calls. They do not respond to investigations. They do not respond to legal rulings. They just continue their criminal behavior. Please, someone, tell me, WHAT THE HELL CAN BE DONE?

I like the quotation from Walker regarding the checks and balances in the Constitution:

The Church Committee Report further concluded that "intelligence activities have undermined the constitutional rights of citizens and that they have done so primarily because checks and balances designed by the framers of the Constitution to assure accountability have not been applied."

This is a very interesting statement given the poll result released today by, of all sources, Rasmussen. They report today on results of polling on the Constitution. It turns out that the Constitution is held in much higher regard than Congress or the President. They find that 79% of voters rate the Constitution as good or excellent. More importantly, they find that only 14% of voters think the Constitution places too many restrictions on government and that 48% think it doesn't place enough restrictions on government. The clincher: Fifty-nine percent (59%) say the bigger danger in the world today is a government that is too powerful.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/644we6

When an in-the-bag-for-Republicans polling group comes out with findings like these, it's time to take notice. Clearly, the public wants a strong Constitution with effective checks on government power. Congress is doing its best to thwart that, and painfully few people beyond the "loony left" are aware and taking action.

So?

Bush doesn't obey the law, congress doesn't obey the law, hell, the DOJ doesn't obey the law. This country has been taken over by corporate criminals. Congress is full of 'em as is the WH. So face it, there is nothing we can do. They do not respond to letters or phone calls. They do not respond to investigations. They do not respond to legal rulings. They just continue their criminal behavior. Please, someone, tell me, WHAT THE HELL CAN BE DONE?

-- doubledave27

Direct action. That is all that remains. But you will find very few here (if any) willing to use that avenue.

important the new FISA bill is because it contains an "exclusivity" provision and thus ensures that the FISA court is brought back into Government

One of the most important reasons I have followed this issue closely isn't due to the privacy concerns, but rather the notion that the President can modify or ignore laws at his pleasure. This all dates back to the arguments we used to have at the old UT regarding the various levels of importance granted between articles I and II of the Constitution.

So my concern is less with the actual eavesdropping than it is with the power of the Congress to regulate the conduct of the President.

The fact that the Congress is responding to the discovery that the President has willfully and extensivly ignored a statute and has argued through his surrogates (Addington)that he has the power and right to do so by restating the same wording of the violated statute can only be described as either Stockholm syndrome or just plain insanity.

Does anyone have any evidence that anyone high up in the Obama campaign -- or perhaps the candidate himself -- has read the columns that we have been reading here?

The phone conversation Glenn related earlier is really telling. They haven't thought this through. They must have thought they were taking the path of least resistance which from their point of view is the best thing for their campaign.

I hope the next column will be about the growing effort to get Obama to man up and do what he is supposed to do.

Reading Hiatt's column leads one to believe his heart wasn't in it, as he admits that

"The litigation seems aimed as much at using the tools of discovery to dislodge information about what the administration actually did as it is at redressing unknown injuries,"

but trumps that by noting that as long as we are kept safe by Leader the warantless wiretapping is cool.