CRS Report Challenges Legality of NSA Warrantless Spying Program

The Congressional Research Service has issued a report to lawmakers saying that President Bush's justifications for evading the law with his warrantless NSA eavesdropping are based on such a creative interpretation of FISA that it would not stand up in court.

The Washington Post has seen a copy of the CRS findings which illustrate precisely the shaky legal ground that Bush stands upon in this matter.

The 44-page report said that Bush probably cannot claim the broad presidential powers he has relied upon as authority to order the secret monitoring of calls made by U.S. citizens since the fall of 2001. Congress expressly intended for the government to seek warrants from a special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before engaging in such surveillance when it passed legislation creating the court in 1978, the CRS report said.

The report also concluded that Bush's assertion that Congress authorized such eavesdropping to detect and fight terrorists does not appear to be supported by the special resolution that Congress approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which focused on authorizing the president to use military force.

Of course, the administration disagrees with the bipartisan research group's conclusions:

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the president and the administration believe the program is on firm legal footing. "The national security activities described by the president were conducted in accord with the law and provide a critical tool in the war on terror that saves lives and protects civil liberties at the same time," he said. A spokesman for the National Security Agency was not available for a comment yesterday.

Other administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the CRS reached some erroneous legal conclusions, erring on the side of a narrow interpretation of what constitutes military force and when the president can exercise his war powers.

In other words, the CRS doesn't realize that the terrorists still mean to do us harm, dead bodies, 9-11, etc.

The administration wonders why the CRS and other critics wish to harm America.

The administration has argued, starting in 2002 briefs to the FISA court, that the "war on terror" is global and indefinite, effectively removing the limits of wartime authority -- traditionally the times and places of imminent or actual battle.

Some law professors have been skeptical of the president's assertions, and several said yesterday that the report's conclusions were expected. "Ultimately, the administration's position is not persuasive," said Carl W. Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor and an expert on constitutional law. "Congress has made it pretty clear it has legislated pretty comprehensively on this issue with FISA," he said, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "And there begins to be a pattern of unilateral executive decision making. Time and again, there's the executive acting alone without consulting the courts or Congress."

The executive acting alone equals dictatorial power. Some people evidently wish for a strong father figure.

The obedient citizens of this country have no problem with the government exceeding all measures of propriety in spying on Americans. You see, these people are not doing anything wrong, so they don't mind surrendering their privacy.

The patriotic Bush followers don't realize that this program can eventually be turned against them.

If willful ignorance of what it means to be an American becomes criminalized, these fools' days in freedom will be numbered, and the NSA will already have the goods on them.