Domestic Spying

Here's another important issue, and for the time being I'm just going to make one point about domestic spying.

Yahoo Article

The problem here isn't wiretapping. Wiretapping as a law-enforcement tool, used appropriately, is fine: no problem. The problem is that what the Bush administration is asking is that wiretapping be made permissible without a warrant. Look, judges are happy to issue warrants. They issue warrants all the time. If someone looks like a terrorist, with even a smidgen of evidence (as a practical matter, not a legal standard), the judge is going to issue a warrant for wiretapping.

There is no reason for the Bush administration to be fighting so hard about this, and certainly the claim that it's necessary for national security is utterly bogus. The inclusion of a judge in the process is hardly going to reduce the effectiveness of the counterterrorism tactic. The Bush administration is trying to cast this issue as if what's threatened is wiretapping itself, and that's just not the issue. The issue is whether the administration has a check/balance by the absolutely minimal oversight that can be provided by including a judge in the process. What the administration is really trying to get here is an "out" from our traditional system of checks and balances, a huge increase in the power of the executive branch vis-a-vis the other branches of government. No way. I'm for the constitution, not for the unfettered monarchy, thank you very much.