One Shallow Breath of Oxygen for the Constitution: Fix FISA

The House just passed a bill that, as Glenn Greenwald writes,
The House just now approved a new FISA bill that denies retroactive immunity to lawbreaking telecoms and which refuses to grant most of the new powers for the President to spy on Americans without warrants. It passed comfortably, by a 213-197 margin.
Notably, many of the [...]

Fix FISA

This email just arrived from Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative John Conyers. The link takes you to the Fix FISA Congressional email generator.

Dear Annie,
As the chairmen of the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees tasked with modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), we are working hard in Congress to pass a FISA bill that [...]

Turn Out the Lights When You Close The Door

Democracy is dead in the US.  Scott Horton describes  it elegantly (emphasis added). 
This weekend, the darkness continues to descend in Washington, the powers of the state continue to grow and the mechanisms of accountability rot away unused.Americans are focused on the selection of a new president. Many of them share the naïve assumption that on [...]

Daily Constitutional: Legislative Branch Killing the Fourth Amendment

The Washington Post reports about the legislative branch failure to apply the necessary checks and balances to save the remaining Fourth Amendment rights.
House and Senate Democratic leaders are headed into talks today that they say could lead to a breakthrough on legislation to revamp domestic surveillance powers and grant phone companies some form of immunity [...]

A Mountain of Sheet Ice

My comment at Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory blog in response to his post this morning:
Between reading Glenn, Scott Horton and the group at Balkinziation, I can’t help but think that the issues around FISA, torture and the corporate oligarchy/press used as organs of propaganda make up not a single slippery slope, but a massive mountain [...]

Evidence: Patrick Leahy Statement on FISA Legislative Process

Sometimes no comment in necessary.  For the record:

Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
Statement On Amending The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Executive Business Meeting

February 28, 2008

Even as we meet here this morning, the President once again is misusing his bully pulpit, as he speaks again about changing the FISA law.  Once again, his purpose [...]

Daily Constitutional: Political Prisoners, FISA, High Crimes and Misdemeanors

Jen Clark writes an elegant and straightforward post about how to understand the FISA and retroactive immunity issues.  She also gives critical advice for understanding who’s on the team of the rule of law, and who’s on the criminal team.  Choose your team wisely.

So the next time you see some Congressman (or President) stand up [...]

NPR Interview: Mike McConnell Shouts, “BOO!” - Sheet Reveals Lying Liar

NPR interview podcast here.
Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, told Renee Montagne the main issue is liability protection for the private sector.
“We can’t do this mission without their help,” he said. “Currently there is no retroactive liability protection for them. They’re being sued for billions of dollars.”
He said the lawsuits are causing them to be [...]

Silvestre Reyes to Bush: “We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution.”

More signs that the Members of the House have had more than enough of Bush’s “all fear all the time” fascism:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The Preamble to our Constitution states that one of our highest duties as public officials is to “provide for the common defence.” As [...]

Pow Wow: In Response To Presidential Propaganda About A “Bipartisan” FISA

Pow Wow is a commenter at Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory  blog on Salon.com.  The following is a crossposted treatise on bipartisanship vis a vis the untruthful way in which Bush uses the term.
“Bipartisanship”(or, better, nonpartisanship) as it really is, in the real world - when not being used as a manipulative political football by the [...]

The Rule of Law or the Rule of Men?

Christopher Dodd’s Senate floor remarks on February 11, 2008 included this key warning:

“This is our defining question, the question that confronts every generation: The rule of law, or the rule of men? How many times must we get the wrong answer?

Christopher Dodd’s Remarks on the Senate Floor February 12, 2008

Mr. President:
It is clear now that the Senate will approve retroactive immunity for the corporations that may have helped President Bush to illegally spy on millions of Americans. I’ve fought this day with everything I had in me—and I haven’t fought alone. Many, many average Americans have given me strength for this fight—strength that comes [...]

Russ Feingold on the Senate Passage of the FISA Bill

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the Passage of the Deeply Flawed FISA Legislation
February 12, 2008
“The Senate passage of this FISA bill, while not surprising, is extremely disappointing. The Senate missed a golden opportunity to pass a bill that would give our intelligence officials the tools they need to go after suspected terrorists while also [...]

Who Eviscerated the Fourth Amendment

[updated to add the vote on the bill.  The vote to invoke cloture is below. ]
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 2nd Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary

Question: On Passage of the Bill (S.2248 as Amended )

Vote Number:
20
Vote [...]

Pow Wow: The Senate has asked for it. It is our duty to give it to them.

Pow Wow writes from the comments at Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory at Salon.com.