Magic_Marker
04-02-2010, 10:02 AM
Source (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/1/853376/-Bush-and-Obama-Wiretapping-Ruled-a-Felony-Today-w-Poll)
A federal district judge in San Francisco has delivered a strong rebuke of the Bush administration’s secret wiretap program. The executive branch, he ruled Wednesday, wasn’t immune to the rules on domestic spying established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
FISA is "a statue enacted specifically to rein in and create a judicial check for executive-branch abuses of surveillance authority," wrote Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in his ruling.
Judge Walker has declared in a summary judgment that an Oregon-based Islamic charity, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, was the subject of "unlawful surveillance." Furthermore, he said, the current administration, which has tried to block the case without addressing its legal questions, cannot evoke the "state-secrets privilege" to get around FISA requirements about court warrants.
Obama has two choices, fight the ruling, thus making him look a little more evil than he did yesterday, or he could go along with it and prosecute the Bush administration.
It'll be interesting to see how this develops.
A federal district judge in San Francisco has delivered a strong rebuke of the Bush administration’s secret wiretap program. The executive branch, he ruled Wednesday, wasn’t immune to the rules on domestic spying established by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
FISA is "a statue enacted specifically to rein in and create a judicial check for executive-branch abuses of surveillance authority," wrote Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in his ruling.
Judge Walker has declared in a summary judgment that an Oregon-based Islamic charity, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, was the subject of "unlawful surveillance." Furthermore, he said, the current administration, which has tried to block the case without addressing its legal questions, cannot evoke the "state-secrets privilege" to get around FISA requirements about court warrants.
Obama has two choices, fight the ruling, thus making him look a little more evil than he did yesterday, or he could go along with it and prosecute the Bush administration.
It'll be interesting to see how this develops.