Big brother

[GomJabbar]

Some chosen highlights from the above article.

A deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) came with conditions. Bush is insisting that Congress first give him new leeway in some areas of surveillance and that all lawsuits challenging his eavesdropping policy be funneled to a Washington-based intelligence court that operates in secret.

It seems; whether he follows the law or not, we won't know, because the above court operates in secret.

Some civil libertarians think Specter's approach invites FISA to give broad approval to surveillance efforts on an unknown number of Americans, whereas the original law presumed that there would be a case-by-case review of individual situations.

Hmm. I wonder where this will lead.

Specter predicted that Congress will pass his bill, even though its two chambers have clashed over immigration, the USA Patriot Act and other matters. If Congress amends the bill in any way that Bush disapproves, he will not be obligated to submit the wiretap program to the FISA court for review, Specter said.

It looks like this might just be a rhetorical exercise.

"We've always said it's constitutional," said one administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record.

I'm not sure what to make of that.

The combination of the statement acknowledging presidential authority and the deletion of the exclusivity clause left open the interpretation that Bush has the power to conduct other surveillance outside FISA's purview, a possibility administration officials noted with approval.

A little "3-card Monty" here?