Reply #10: John Nichols -Feingold says Bush should be held accountable for wiretaps [View All]

written before Russ introduced resolution but well worth reading.


E-mail: jnichols@madison.com
Published: March 13, 2006

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=76059

Feingold says Bush should be held accountable for wiretaps
Senator favors censuring President
By John Nichols

.....

Charging that the president's illegal wiretapping program is in direct violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - which makes it a crime to wiretap Americans in the United States without a warrant or a court order - Feingold argues that Congress cannot avoid facing the fact that fundamental constitutional issues are at stake.

"The president must be held accountable for authorizing a program that clearly violates the law and then misleading the country about its existence and its legality," Feingold said. "The president's actions, as well as his misleading statements to both Congress and the public about the program, demand a serious response. If Congress does not censure the president, we will be tacitly condoning his actions and undermining both the separation of powers and the rule of law."
Feingold's motion faces an uphill fight in a Republican-controlled Senate that does not appear inclined to make Bush the first president since Andrew Jackson to be censured by Congress. But it does raise the stakes at a point when the Wisconsin senator and civil libertarians have grown frustrated with the failure of Congress to aggressively challenge the administration's penchant for warrantless wiretapping.

Republican senators have proposed rewriting laws to remove barriers to wiretapping, arguing that the president must have flexibility in order to pursue his war on terror.

But Feingold rejects the suggestion that changing the rules after the fact would absolve the president.......