Truthdig - Ear to the Ground - Gonzales Sidesteps Legal Issues of NSA Spying

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Gonzales Sidesteps Legal Issues of NSA Spying

Posted on May 24, 2006

The attorney general, in defending the NSA’s collection of millions of U.S. phone records, claims it is constitutional—but conveniently ignores the fact that it appears to be illegal.

Think Progress:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wont confirm that the federal government collected the phone records of millions of Americans, as reported on May 11 in USA Today. But yesterday, Gonzales claimed that doing so was perfectly legal. From the Washington Post:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday that the government can obtain domestic telephone records without court approval under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling that authorized the collection of business records Gonzales told reporters that, under the Smith v. Maryland ruling, those kinds of records do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protection. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in those kinds of records.

This is a classic case of misdirection. The issue isnt simply whether or not collecting domestic phone records is constitutional. The issue is whether its legal. If the USA Today story is accurate, the NSA program appears to be illegal, not because it violates the fourth amendment, but because it violates two statutes.

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By C Quil, May 25, 2006 at 4:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Gonzales - There is no law that I cannot break. There is no statute that I cannot misinterpret. There is no depravity that I cannot legalize.
There is no right that I cannot rescind.

I think megalomania is the new disease of the administration. Something in the water maybe?

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By William Day, May 24, 2006 at 1:49 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

And this is one of the blivits (10 pounds of BS in a 5 pound bag) that was once being considered as a candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court! God, when are we ever gonna reach the bottom of the barrel. Well, maybe for this administration that barrel does not have a bottom!!!!!

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By Noodle, May 24, 2006 at 12:56 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Didn’t you get the memo? Congress and the courts have been disbanded. Bush has assured us that there is no reason to fret, he will protect us. He will write, execute, and rule on all laws himself. If he cannot, one of his special ‘friends’ will do it for him. Although the members of Congress will not be allowed into the Capitol building, they will still get paid. As a matter of fact, Bush stated, they will get a raise to 5,000,000.00 a year tax free with lifetime healthcare for themselves and their families. Members of Congress were furious at the president until they heard about the pay raise. Remarked speaker Denny, ‘He shouldn’t uh oughta dun this. Let’s go to lunch.’

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