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Well, until Al Gore chimed in about the NSA wiretapping story, I was convinced the President had the authority under Article II of the Constitution to conduct warrantless searches and surveillance to protect the USA against foreign threats. In fact, I was under the impression that every President since Jimmy Carter had maintained that despite FISA (signed in 1978 by said Georgia peanut farmer), the executive had the inherent and irrevocable authority to conduct such operations. No less than Bill Clinton and Al Gore's own Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick maintained that presidential authority in testimony before the Senate. And then there's the whole FISA Court of Review opinion from 2002 that affirmed the president's warrantless surveillance authority (the Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear the ACLU appeal of the matter thus settling it for the time being). But pay no mind to all that.

It seems that former Chief Justice Gore (I know, you missed that part of his bio -- he served as Chief Justice between inventing the Internet and serving as the role model for Oliver in Love Story) has set the record straight. According to __ Gore (he's held so many prominent positions that we hardly know which honorific to use), President Bush has broken the law. Whew. Once again, Al has come to the rescue.

Thank you Al. Thank you. And now, back to American Idol...

topics:
Bill Clinton, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court