I wonder what the outcome of the Padilla case will be. That case is about military v. civilian detention and military v. civilian prosecution and sentencing.
Wiretaps is a fairly benign event in most people's minds, so it is a weak venue for probing the question of how much power an executive can have. More attention is paid when the stakes are incarceration. The executive argues that this being a time of war, and Congress having passed an "all necesary force" resolution, there needn't be Congressional or Court oversight of executive incarceration of suspected terrorists.
That action wouldn't cause me to lose any rights either, but it's treading in an area that makes me rather nervous.
Scalia apparently wants Padilla to receive a civilian trial. from what I have read, it wouldn't have mattered to Scalia if Padilla had been captured in Pakistan instead of OHare airport - he would still give him a civilian trial.
the train is going to come off the rails here pretty soon given where the judiciary wants to exert (or create) its authority in these matters.