Thursday, January 05, 2006

 

Penumbras Radiating From The Sun King

I must point out that Glenn Greenwald has been subbing for Digby over at Hullabaloo, and doing a yeoman's job utterly demolishing the specious arguments being put forward by Bush to justify his violations of federal (FISA) wiretap laws. Suffice it to say that Bush's defense requires one to follow the most contortionist meanderings of legal logic imaginable, and a "kingly" interpretation of expansive executive power nowhere to be found in the language of the Constitution itself:

The Administration’s previous view of this matter is, of course, the precise opposite of its position now. The Administration now seeks to claim that the Congress -- when it enacted its 2001 resolution authorizing the use of military force in Afghanistan and against al Qaeda -- somehow intended with that Resolution to amend FISA and thereby silently and "impliedly" gave the Administration the right to engage in exactly the secret, warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens which FISA makes it a criminal offense to engage in.

What we really have from these paragons of Judicial Restraint trying to defend George Bush is everything except plain language and original intent – the very tools of construction which these "conservatives," when not concocting legal defenses for the President, claim that they believe in. That’s because the plain language of the law is crystal clear ("A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally— (1) engages in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute") and leaves no doubt that George Bush broke it.

Yep, that's right. The "strict constructionist" crowd is now telling us that Congress "impliedly" and "silently" granted the President powers to break the very laws that the Congress "expressly" and "publicly" enacted -- the same laws the Congress now "specifically" and "vociferously" maintains were never changed.

One immediate outcome of this debate, I predict: Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court is toast. Remember, you read it here first.

posted by Michael 12:54 AM