Immigration and domestic spying
Fred Brown brings us up to date on the recent legislative hearings on immigration that were held here in Denver [December 18, 2005, "Immigration and the states"]. He writes, "Legislators from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah participated in the all-day session. The problems weren't papered over. But can the states really do anything about them? The U.S. Constitution says immigration is a federal responsibility, NCSL's Sheri Steisel pointed out. The states have little authority, but they live with the consequences. (Even Kansas, she said, has a problem with unauthorized German migrants.) The states end up paying for public health and education programs, and they deal more directly with the problems of assimilating the newcomers. Some states have agreements with the feds to help enforce immigration law. And some - notably California and Arizona - have passed citizen initiatives to deny state services to unauthorized, illegal or whatever immigrants. Arizona's so far have been upheld; California's have been eviscerated in the courts. There's talk of similar laws being petitioned onto the 2006 Colorado ballot."
TalkLeft: "The federal legislature enacted laws that prohibit the executive branch from electronically eavesdropping on private communications without the approval of the judicial branch. The law authorizes the president to apply to a special court for easily-obtained permission to intercept telephone calls of persons suspected of supporting terrorism or of working on behalf of a foreign government. Nothing in the Constitution gives the president greater power than that bestowed by Congress to listen to private conversations, and the Fourth Amendment requires the executive branch to obtain a warrant before it does so.
"Like a rebellious child who continues to stick out his tongue after being told to behave, President Bush today acknowledged that he has authorized wiretaps and insisted that he will continue to do everything in his power to protect Americans. While the president contended that he is acting under our laws and Constitution, his understanding of the law detention without trial or counsel, torture, secret renditions to foreign prisons, all deemed appropriate exercises of presidential power is untrustworthy."
Political Wire: "Hotline On Call notes that the law required the White House to notify the leaders of the House and Senate about the domestic surveillance program confirmed earlier by President Bush. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) admitted she knew about it."
The Moderate Voice: "Amid growing controversy swirling around renewal of the Patriot Act and reports that President George W. Bush personally approved secret spying on Americans, Bush has thrown down the gauntlet to Congress and critics, essentially saying that the War On Terrorism is his to conduct as he sees fit."
Josh Marshall: "According to this table compiled from DOJ statistics at the EPIC website, the FISA Court did not reject a single warrant application from its beginning in 1979 through 2002. In 2003 it rejected four applications. In 2004, the number was again zero. So, in a quarter century, the FISA Court has rejected four government applications for warrants."
Update: FreedomSight: "Dear Mr. Bush, I shall no longer refer to you as Mr. President or President Bush, because you have violated your oath of office. When you took that oath, your hand upon the Bible, you swore before God and the People of the United States to 'preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States'. By your actions in authorizing the NSA to conduct warrantless eavsdropping on the communications of U.S. Citizens, you have willfully exceeded the bounds placed upon the government by the 4th Amendment. It is simply not plausible for anyone to suggest that merely briefing a Justice is the equivalent of seeking, and being granted a warrant based upon probable cause."
The Texas Observer (via The Moderate Voice): "... one more good reason to observe the separation of church and state: If God keeps hanging out with politicians, it's gonna hurt his reputation."
Political Wire: ""He's Sen. John McCain 's best pal in the Senate, a fellow Vietnam War vet, but that won't stop Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel from running for president in 2008 against the current front-runner," Washington Whispers reports. Says Hagel: 'You know that there will be a lot of very good people in the race. You know some of them are going to be your close friends. I could not, or would I, base my decision on John McCain running or not running.'"
Political Wire: "Newsweek looks at two possible presidential candidates from the same state -- Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) -- and says their careers offer clues to those who want to run for president in 2008. 'As a new election cycle begins, Virginia -- and the double-helix career of these two Virginians -- is moving to center stage. Differing in background, tone and philosophy, they offer competing models of how to succeed in the South, where Democrats must be competitive if they hope to win the White House again.'"
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
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