Domestic Spying debate cracks National Republican Unity
Now there is that good 'ole fashioned small government conservatism I used to think was midly annoying! Good for Specter. Good for any other Repbulican who joins him. That is the right thing to do. I am glad to see a member of the Senate who will stand up for the power vested in that body by the constitution. These mad power grabs by the Bush boys are simply unjustified.WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not adequately justified why the Bush administration failed to seek court approval for domestic surveillance, said the senator in charge of a hearing Monday on the program.
Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) said Sunday he believes that President Bush violated a 1978 law specifically calling for a secret court to consider and approve such monitoring. The Pennsylvania Republican branded Gonzales' explanations to date as "strained and unrealistic."
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), predicted that the committee would have to subpoena the administration to obtain internal documents that lay out the legal basis for the program. Justice Department officials have declined, citing in part the confidential nature of legal communications.
Specter said he would have his committee consider such a step if the attorney general does not go beyond his prior statements and prepared testimony that the spying is legal, necessary and narrowly defined to fight terrorists.
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"I believe that contention is very strained and unrealistic," Specter said. If the FISA law was inadequate, he said, Bush should have asked Congress to change it rather than ignore it. "The authorization for the use of force doesn't say anything about electronic surveillance."
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