The threat to our nation, our civil liberties, is getting worse and worse. Martin Garbus has written a chilling piece at Huffington Post.
Since 1978 every administration has had the FISA court available, but, as far as is known, none have rejected its use when foreign intelligence gathering was necessary. The passage of the Patriot Act in 2001 even made it more accessible and expanded its powers. However, this apparently was not sufficient for the Bush Administration.
This is the really scary part –
What is really happening is that the Bush Administration is seeking this moment to reverse the Nixon case and gather unto itself an unrestricted and unreviewable right to engage in domestic spying. The Supreme Court that decided United States v. U.S. District Court included Justices Douglas, Brennan, Marshall, Stewart and Powell. The Court that hears the Bush challenge will have Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Kennedy, all of whom have shown in their previous cases great deference to the expansion of Presidential powers.
Nothing that has gone on before in this post 9-11 period, including the Patriot Act, will so drastically alter the rights of Americans to be free of governmental intrusion than a reversal of that landmark decision prohibiting government surveillance without a warrant.
Bush’s assertions that he would not allow terrorists to change the American way of life may be his biggest lie yet.
