Word: warrantless
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...another way, in the case of the warrantless wiretapping, there is the mystery of the facts, and the mystery of the law. Neither has been solved. If we are heading to court, the Bush team will argue both if it can. But it so far does not see a need to argue either...
...have the facts, argue the law. And that may be as good a way as any to understand the latest developments in the Bush administration's controversial "terrorist surveillance" program. Perhaps administration officials have now quietly demonstrated to lawmakers behind closed doors on Capitol Hill that its warrantless wiretapping has yielded valuable national security tools and tips. It may be days before we know for sure. While we wait, here are a couple of mysteries that well-informed lawyers who have worked in the murky world of secret snooping say are worth exploring...
...what did the U.S. learn? What plots were foiled, what leads were obtained, what links were unveiled as a result of these warrantless searches? If the government can show that the snooping kept Americans safe and sound, this controversy will disappear quickly. But it hasn't taken that approach-yet. The administration so far responds to every inquiry about how the new snooping works-and how well it works-with a firm refusal to get into what it calls "operational details." The President tried to argue the facts a bit today, suggesting almost obliquely that his administration's no-quarter...
...questions Monday as Senators from both parties tried to corner him on the limits of presidential wartime powers. It was the first real public debate in Congress since 9/11 about presidential authority in times of war, and so while the hearing was ostensibly about the President's secret warrantless wiretapping program, the most exercised debate was about how far the Commander in Chief's powers could be taken without judicial oversight...
...That is doubtful. But Gonzales heard plenty of what the Senators had to say. When Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, suggested the former White House Counsel had been less than truthful during his Attorney General confirmation hearings a year ago for saying that a question about warrantless wiretapping was "hypothetical," Gonzales remained firm; the question was indeed hypothetical, he retorted, because Feingold had asked him whether he thought the President could authorize eavesdropping "in violation...