I just love that case name. Roll it around in your mind for a while: The Center for Constitutional Rights vs. Bush (or as I like to think of it, Good vs. Evil). I had the opportunity to go to the US District Court in San Francisco today to watch CCR argue the latest round in the case, which has been going on for nearly two years. Here are some of the highlights.
The case centers on the Bush administration's practice of warrantless wiretapping, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and (more importantly) the Constitution. As you might expect, the Democrats' betrayal of the Constitution last weekend was a serious blow to CCR, since one pillar of their argument was that Bush had violated the will of Congress as expressed in the original FISA law. Thanks to the rank opportunism of the Democrats (this means you, Diane Feinstein) in allowing the amendment of FISA, CCR was forced to concede that this point had been rendered moot and fall back instead on their Fourth Amendment argument. They rallied bravely, though, asking the judge to rule not only the original warrantless wiretapping program but also the new law unconstitutional.
(An aside: did you know that this abomination of a law that Congress just passed is called the "Protect America Act of 2007"? I hadn't heard that one yet, and I nearly retched on the fine wood paneling when it came up during the court proceedings. I had another close call when they mentioned the "Terrorist Surveillance Program", which is the official name given by the Bush administration--post hoc, apparently--for the warrantless spying they were doing, which actually ended up monitoring mainly innocent people, of course. We should all start preparing ourselves for the "Adorable Puppies and Happy Children Sunshine Love Act of 2008", which will authorize the Bush administration to imprison and summarily execute any US citizen with a vowel in their last name.)
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