a little editorial from my hometown hartford courant

Secret Briefing For Secret Court

December 30, 2005

Next month, federal judges who moonlight on the top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will be briefed on why the Bush administration bypassed them in eavesdropping on telephone and e-mail communications of terrorism suspects. Too bad the briefing didn't take place much earlier. One of the 11 FISA judges expressed his disapproval of the extra-judicial conduct by resigning. Others have complained to reporters that evidence gathered from eavesdropping could be tainted and may damage some cases against suspects.

The White House insists that the president has the legal power to authorize wiretaps without warrants in emergencies. If so, why maintain the surveillance court, whose job it is to review applications for classified wiretaps? Those reviews are usually conducted within 24 hours and approved in most cases. Further, the president's agents may start eavesdropping before getting court approval, so long as they seek a warrant from the court within 72 hours...........