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Bush demands congressional rubber-stamp for police-state powers
In the fourth of a series of speeches aimed at fueling public fears of terrorism to boost his administration’s failing political standing, President Bush appeared before an audience of right-wing policy experts in Atlanta, Georgia Thursday. The speech was focused on the demand that Congress move quickly to legalize the program of warrantless wiretapping of Americans, the existence of which was revealed late last year.
“Today I’m calling on the Congress to promptly pass legislation providing additional authority for the Terrorist Surveillance Program,” Bush said, “along with broader reforms in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”
A federal district court judge in Detroit ruled last month that the warrantless wiretapping of international phone calls to and from the United States, conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), was unconstitutional. The program was a violation of both the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits searches without a warrant, and the First Amendment, because of its chilling effect on free speech, according to Judge Anna Diggs Taylor.
A federal district court judge in New York is hearing a second challenge to the program, which focuses on the violation of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the law which Bush wants “reformed” because it flatly bars the president from authorizing spying on American citizens except on the basis of a court order granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a panel set up in 1978 after revelations of illegal CIA and NSA spying on Americans during the Vietnam War period.
The Bush administration wants Congress to preempt these court challenges by retroactively legalizing the spying and, if possible, removing the subject entirely from judicial review by declaring the surveillance to be an exercise of the president’s executive authority as commander in chief.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/sep2006/bush-s09.shtml
A federal district court judge in Detroit ruled last month that the warrantless wiretapping of international phone calls to and from the United States, conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), was unconstitutional. The program was a violation of both the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits searches without a warrant, and the First Amendment, because of its chilling effect on free speech, according to Judge Anna Diggs Taylor.
A federal district court judge in New York is hearing a second challenge to the program, which focuses on the violation of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the law which Bush wants “reformed” because it flatly bars the president from authorizing spying on American citizens except on the basis of a court order granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a panel set up in 1978 after revelations of illegal CIA and NSA spying on Americans during the Vietnam War period.
The Bush administration wants Congress to preempt these court challenges by retroactively legalizing the spying and, if possible, removing the subject entirely from judicial review by declaring the surveillance to be an exercise of the president’s executive authority as commander in chief.
More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/sep2006/bush-s09.shtml
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