FISA

Pre-9/11 FISA Violations and Retroactive Telecom Immunity

July 20, 2008

I’ve not seen much mention of one of the most important complaints about the FISA reauthorization: the claim made by Joseph P. Nacchio and Qwest Communication International that the Bush administration sought the power to engage in warrantless wiretapping in February of 2001 , seven months before the events of Semptember 11th and the Authorization…

Worse than Nixon?

April 2, 2006

Anonymous Liberal has a nice wrap-up of the relative strength of the NSA’s wiretapping program as compared with Nixon’s wiretapping efforts. The conclusion: Nixon had a better case than Bush, and still lost. All the arguments for executive authority were basically demolished when Congress instituted the FISA court to oversee domestic wiretapping warrants. I suspect…