White House illegalities: Worse than Nixon

FISA Compromise Bill Undermines Law

Our laws matter, and they should be applied equally and fairly to the President, Congress, telecommunications companies, and every other citizen.

By Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)
June 23rd, 2008

There are many parts of this bill that I support. It reaffirms that FISA is the exclusive means for electronic surveillance, and it strengthens protections for Americans at home and abroad. If this was all that this bill included, I could support it.

Unfortunately, the bill also contains an unprecedented free pass for the Bush Administration’s past actions. It does not allow judicial review of the Administration’s use of warrantless wiretaps, and the process it puts in place to review the telecommunications companies’ participation in that illegal program has a predetermined outcome – immunity.

Incredibly, this bill actually says that as long as the telecommunications companies can prove that the Bush Administration told them this action was legal, they can get off scot-free. Today, my colleague Roy Blunt called the process of granting immunity to these telecoms “a formality.”

When Richard Nixon said that “when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal,” many Americans were horrified that any President would consider himself above the law. This legislation is even worse, because it essentially says ‘if the President tells you do so something, it’s not illegal,’ even if it violates the plain letter of the law. The process set out in this bill to rubberstamp the actions of the Bush Administration is contradictory to the rule of law in this country.

(More here.)