[A CA Guy]

Why does Specter need to do anything to get us probably bombed?

[MilesVeritatis]

Maybe specter should just give it up and retire where he is most comfortable--Scotland.

[sure_fine]

Spector needs to 'strike' the streets looking for another job

[bert]

The lawyer tyrants are insisting they have a role to play in national security.

Dead lawyers....good lawyers

[sully777]

So glad the GOP reassured us that Specter would behave himself after the 2004 elections.

[syriacus]

US government kept records of addresses of citizenry and opened mail during WWII:

Consequently, [A.S. Hudson -- administrator of the Fort Lincoln Detention Station] sought authorization to bring in a full-time German-speaking intelligence officer to eavesdrop on the detainees and to gather information on the nearby populace.

Some of the citizenry, he feared, might assist in escape attempts. Intelligence work, he argued, should also include examination of the detainees' incoming and outgoing mail in order to determine their attitudes.

On the basis of this opinion, Hudson and his staff set up index cards for each detainee, recording on them the names and addresses on all outgoing mail and the writers' names, addresses, and dates of arrival on all incoming mail. This practice would soon become standard procedure at all the INS camps.

A sampling of mail was to be opened and read. In addition, the chief patrol inspector ordered incoming packages inspected for unspecified contraband prior to delivery to the Germans.

[Just A Nobody]

Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) were said to have concerns about Specter’s bill.

If they have concerns about the bill it needs to be thrown out.

[Just A Nobody]

This issue has already been settled. CONgress needs to quit wasting time and money and do something worthwhile.

Please note the ONLY dates this issue has been debated is when there is a REPUBLICAN in the WH.

Can the President constitutionally authorize such wiretaps? Here is what the courts have consistently held.

"However, because of the President's constitutional duty to act for the United States in the field of foreign relations, and his inherent power to protect national security in the context of foreign affairs, we reaffirm what we held in United States v. Clay, supra, that the President may constitutionally authorize warrantless wiretaps for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence." --United States v. Brown, 484 F.2d 418, 426 (1973)

"We agree with the district court that the Executive Branch need not always obtain a warrant for foreign intelligence surveillance." --U.S. v. Truong Dinh Hung, 629 F.2d 908, 913 (1980)

"Prior to the enactment of FISA, virtually every court that had addressed the issue had concluded that the President had the inherent power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance to collect foreign intelligence information, and that such surveillances constituted an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment." --United States v. Duggan, 743 F.2d 59 (1984)

"The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent [constitutional] authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." --In re Sealed Case, 310, F3d. 717, 742 (2002)

And in a contest between the Constitution and the laws of Congress, who wins?

"We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President’s constitutional power." --In re Sealed Case, 310, F3d. 717, 742 (2002)

Thanks to Boot Hill!