[Pragmatic_View]

I searched and didn't see this posted.

A longer article on the subject:

Secret court modified wiretap requests. Intervention may have led Bush to bypass panel

I posted the UPI article, because it had the numbers.

Apparently the FISA court doesn't know we have been attacked on 9-11-2001 and doesn't care if the terrorists will nuke a US city.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This is just astounding.

[Gay State Conservative]

Hmmmm......Clinton appointees? Carter appointees? Why would judges reject so many more requests *after* 9/11?

[speedy]

Why didn't Bush say this when he was justifying his actions? He seems to have no interest in defending himself.

[Clara Lou]

It would be interesting to know how many on the FISA court are Clinton placements.

[jw777]

Oh, but there's no bias or hatred towards GWB. None whatsoever!

Wonder if this will make the front page of NYT's? NOT.

[peyton randolph]

As they say, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. If the leftists want to commit suicide by jihad, I urge them to buy one-way tickets to Iran.

[My2Cents]

Good for Bush.

[Wasanother]

No wonder Bush used his Constitutional Authorities rather than the FISA Courts. Any President in their right minds would have done the same thing and skip this sham court.

[GingisK]

U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate.

Great grounds for impeachment.

[xcamel]

Something steenks at Justice??

[tioga]

Bush needs to protect us. Are the courts going to take responsibility for the next attack? NO, just like they take no responsibility for letting rapists and child molesters walk the streets to attack us again.

[Mo1]

But since 2001, the judges have modified 179 of the 5,645 requests for surveillance by the Bush administration, the report said. A total of 173 of those court-ordered "substantive modifications" took place in 2003 and 2004.

What exactly is meant by "modified"??

The Court changed the application or the rules??

And if so .. are they allowed to change or amend them??

[Recovering_Democrat]

I agree the President didn't need the FISA judges' permission--he tried to play ball with them, and since they denied it, SCREW 'EM.

[JimSEA]

Of course now the question becomes WHY were 179 requests modified and six rejected. The left will claim the Bush Administration was violating peoples civil rights and Bush will not be able to effectively refute the charge without releasing sensitive information. I fear that the judge who resigned will have something to say and the Administration, for good reason, will not. Lacking loyalty or concern for the people who would be targeted for terrorist attack, as the left does, gives them an advantage in the public debate.

[Cementjungle]

So, 97% of the requests were approved as is, without modification. This is an "unprecedented" rate of rejection?

What's the number of annual requests that were approved, as compared with previous administrations?

[rdb3]

So, the President went through the proper channels on these wiretaps, and the court rebuffed him?

Puts a new spin on things.

[USNBandit]

U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate.

There is nothing in this story to support this statement other than the crack(pot) analysis of the modification of a small percentage of the warrant requests.

179 of the 5,645

I'm calling B.S. on this conclusion. Three percent of your warrant requests get modified and that is your motivation to not consult the FISA court? That's a pretty weak piece of evidence upon which to base a conclusion. How many of the wiretaps authorized were domestic only in nature? How many total wiretaps were conducted without a warrant from the court?

It could be possible that the warrants discussed in this article were all domestic and that the number of warrantless taps were a small percentage of the taps conducted. We will never know because that would derail this whole story.

This is a perfect example of a journalist taking one fact, building some unsupportable conclusions from it, and writing a story around those conclusions. The Jayson Blair School of Journalism.

I will cease ranting.

[AmishDude]

I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark that the judge mostly responsible is no longer on the FISA court. And he might be afraid that we might just find out.

[weegee]

Where was the outrage from the Left when Hillary Clinton was found in illegal possession of 500 FBI files?

[goresalooza]

Thank goodness for America that FISA is not in charge of our national security, President Bush IS.