FISA court is angry!!----They want answers from Bush.

[Justice Is Comin]

:puffpiece: BOOM!!

<CLIP>

Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Of serious concern to several judges is whether any information gleaned from intercepts by the National Security Agency was later used to gain their permission for wiretaps without the source being disclosed.

The court is made up of 11 judges who, on a rotating basis, hear government applications for surveillance warrants. But only the presiding judge, currently Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, was notified of the government eavesdropping program. One judge, James Robertson, who also serves on the federal bench in Washington, resigned his seat on the surveillance court in protest shortly after the wiretapping was revealed by the New York Times in mid-December.

Kollar-Kotelly began pressing for a closed government briefing for the remaining members of the court on Dec. 19, the day she learned of Robertson's concerns. Other judges wanted to know, as Robertson had, whether the administration had misled their court about its sources of information on possible terrorism suspects.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010401864.html?sub=AR

YEEE HA :kick: :applause:

[berni_mccoy]

1. BOOM is RIGHT! The implication is HUGE!

If the court finds that the WARRANTS they issued were based on illegally obtained information, the WHOLE HOUSE OF CARDS COMES DOWN!

I think you'll see FISA recommending IMPEACHMENT of the entire ADMIN to CONGRESS.

[rodeodance]

4. we keep thinking the house of cards will fall but so far not so.

[Peter Frank]

28. The FISA Judges already feel guilty because...

...they basically rubber stamp warrants for wiretaps et. al.

How silly they must feel when they are circumvented.

[Cocoa]

2. polls say the spying is ok

FISA and other courts are no longer relevant.

[tenshi816]

26. This makes me crazy.

Are polls now the rule of law? Because if they are, based on all the poll results about impeachment, then Junior ought to be out of a job.

So, I guess polls saying the spying is OK means that it doesn't matter if the law was broken. Huh. Guess we don't need politicians anymore then. We'll just let AOL take a poll.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Why do they hate America?

Don't they know 9/11 changed everything?

[Erika]

5. You mean W is not another King George or dictator?

The far right have given him the robes and agreed to the suspension of the Constitution.

The Court disagrees with their view?

[FreedomAngel82]

10. You mean

not everyone loves King George? Oh gosh!

:sarcasm:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. So the push now comes to shove.

Will they back down, or will the boy king? I hope he's in for the slapdown of his miserable life.

[hang a left]

7. The screwed up thing about this is that this Kollar-Kotelly judge

had already known about the warrantless wiretaps as late as 2004. What is the administration going to say now. That they apprised the FISA court, and they were aware?

[Justice Is Comin]

8. Yeah all Bush's jaw flappin'

didn't do a bit of good.

You can bet they didn't bargain for this development. :woohoo:

[rucky]

24. The difference between then and now (besides the NYT story)

is Rehnquist isn't holding a gavel over their heads.

just a hunch.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Wow

This is big and going to get good and ugly for the Bush administration.

[Lex]

12. Oooh, I do hope so!

Good and ugly. Bushco is so sure it is above law.

[tuvor]

11. I wish the CIA had demanded similar answers three years ago.

I hope FISA feels a little more undermined than the CIA evidently did.

Strappin' my seatbelt on.

[DemoTex]

13. Bu$h to FISA Court:

[XOKCowboy]

14. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country

When even the entrenched and empowered fear the administration's grab for imperial power, you know it's gotta be bad. Bush is on thin ice, the heat is on and it's cracking all around him.

[tulsakatz]

15. On Olbermann's show.........

.......this was probably a couple of weeks ago, Keith interviewed 2 lawyers about this.
During the interview one of the lawyers said that Judges in this country are pissed at this administration because they're tired of being lied to!!

They also said that the attorneys who are representing terrorist suspects (like Padilla) are trying to find out if their clients were victims of the illegal spying. And if that happens, guess what happens next? The cases will be thrown out of court! Has anyone ever heard of illegal search and seizure?

Olbermann also asked them if the spying (without a warrant) is illegal. Without question, they both said definitely!!

Bush can say whatever he wants but spying on American citizens without a warrant is against the law!!! And there's probably not an attorney or Judge in the country who would say otherwise!

[fooj]

16. Hell! They SHOULD be angry.

Peace.

[kskiska]

17. Developing on Drudge…

Gertz: NSA whistleblower asks to testify; Vows to describe illegal intelligence operations... DEVELOPING...

[Oilwellian]

18. the plain and easy-to-understand language of Section 1809 of FISA

The central problem for the Administration is that George Bush deliberately engaged in conduct which FISA clearly and expressly makes it a crime to engage in. All of the legalistic smoke screens aside, the issue really is that clear. That’s because the Administration cannot escape.

"A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally—
(1) engages in electronic surveillance under color
of law except as authorized by statute."

(snip)
And then we have the second Bush-defending argument: a dressed-up Constitutional theory which claims that George Bush has the "inherent" authority under Article II of the Constitution to violate Congressional law and eavesdrop on American citizens without the judicial oversight required by FISA – even though nothing in Article II mentions or even references the power to eavesdrop, the power to engage in surveillance, or the right to violate Congressional statutes. Indeed, the only express clause in Article II which seems to relate to this controversy is one that would rather strongly undercut the claim that the President has the right to violate Congressional law. That’s the part mandating that the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed . . . "

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_digbysblog_archive.html#113641228933068600

[InkAddict]

19. Is the color of law green, gold, or black gold?

Crayola should add another color to the box called...

[Justice Is Comin]

20. You got it.

They're even trying to claim it also falls under the IWR. That's so bullshit, it makes me laugh just thinking about it. That means if there is anybody alive on the planet that bush wants to spy on, he can say they're terrorists and the forefathers can go take a flying leap with their constitution.

That won't even pass the smell test once he has to explain it in front of congress or for DAMN SURE, in front of the judges he gave the finger to.

I'd love to be in that room Monday.

[jillan]

21. It really pisses me off that the bushites keep saying they NEED to spy

There they go again, re-framing the debate.

Most of the country thinks this is the story. :banghead: :banghead:

[tavalon]

22. Damn straight they're pissed

He made a mockery of their kangaroo court.

[Neil Lisst]

23. Watergate came unraveled because of one tenacious judge.

One federal judge on a mission did in Nixon. He kept after the Watergate perps and followed them to the White House.

I think we could see that happen here.

The federal judges have to know that Bush is threatening the balance of power that has traditionally kept the US sound. The congress rubber stamps Bush in almost all matters, and the courts largely do what he wants. If Bush can ignore this most secret of courts, with it's ridiculously easy standards to justify taps and such, then he doesn't even want to follow the pretense of due process.

The country needs a hero. We need an NSA worker to stand up. We need these FISA judges to stand up. It's not partisan any more. We can't have a president who uses wholesale domestic intelligence without appropriate authority and oversight.

[oasis]

25. Don't mess with the folks wearing robes.

[moondust]

27. Kollar-Kotelly?

She's the judge that let Microsoft go virtually unpunished for predatory monopolistic practices that all but put Netscape and others out of business. I wouldn't count on her doing much of anything that Bushcorp might not like.