Legal Commentary

D-Day for FISA Capitulation

By Big Tent Democrat

Today Tomorrow the Democrats in DC, led by the nominee of the party, will capitulate to the 23% approval rating Bush led GOP on FISA. The NYTimes Ed Board writes:

Congress has been far too compliant as President Bush undermined the Bill of Rights and the balance of powers. It now has a chance to undo some of that damage — if it has the courage and good sense to stand up to the White House and for the Constitution. The Senate should reject a bill this week that would needlessly expand the government’s ability to spy on Americans and ensure that the country never learns the full extent of President Bush’s unlawful wiretapping. The bill dangerously weakens the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

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. . . Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee for president, has supported the weakening of FISA. Senator Barack Obama vowed in January (when he was still fighting for the Democratic nomination) that he would filibuster against immunity. Now he says he will vote for an “imperfect” bill and fix it if he wins. Sound familiar? Proponents of the FISA deal say companies should not be “punished” for cooperating with the government. That’s Washington-speak for a cover-up. The purpose of withholding immunity is not to punish but to preserve the only chance of unearthing the details of Mr. Bush’s outlaw eavesdropping. . . .

Restoring some of the protections taken away by an earlier law while creating new loopholes in the Constitution is not a compromise. It is a failure of leadership.

Hoyerism continues to rule supreme in the Democratic Party, in no small measure due to our nominee, Barack Obama.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).