Top Items:
Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE NSA DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: Was the secret NSA surveillance program legal? Was it constitutional? Did it violate federal statutory law? It turns out these are hard questions, but I wanted to try my best to answer them. My answer is pretty tentative …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, Crooked Timber, Confirm Them, Whatever, Hugh Hewitt, Decision '08 and The Truth Laid Bear
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White House:
Press Briefing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and General Michael Hayden, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence — MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. I've got with me the Attorney General and General Hayden here this morning to brief you on the legal issues surrounding …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Stop The ACLU, Billmon, Eschaton, Stop the Bleating!, www.AndrewSullivan.com, In Search Of Utopia and First Draft
National Review:
Why Bush Approved the Wiretaps — In the days since the revelation that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to bypass, in certain cases of suspected al Qaeda activity, the special court set up to provide warrants for national-security wiretaps, the question has come up repeatedly: Why did he do it?
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Decembrist, Power Line, The Right Coast, Preemptive Karma, Secular Blasphemy and BrothersJudd Blog
David Stout / New York Times:
Bush Says U.S. Spy Program Is Legal and Essential — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President Bush offered a vigorous and detailed defense of his previously secret electronic-surveillance program today, calling it a legal and essential tool in the battle against terrorism and saying that whoever disclosed it had committed a "shameful act."
Daniel J. Solove / Concurring Opinions:Beyond His Power: Bush's Authorization of Warrantless NSA Surveillance
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:Which Is It, Mr. President? — In his press conference this morning …
Ann Althouse / Althouse:About those wiretaps and the constitutional separation of powers.
Discussion:
New York Times, TAPPED, PoliBlog, The Mahablog, neo-neocon, Unclaimed Territory, The Glittering Eye, The American Mind, War and Piece and Prometheus 6
White House:
Press Conference of the President — THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. Please be seated. Thanks. — Last night I addressed the nation about our strategy for victory in Iraq, and the historic elections that took place in the country last week. In a nation that once lived by the whims of a brutal dictator …
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CNN:
Bush: U.S. must think, act differently — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush held a year-end news conference in the White House on Monday. The president followed up on his Sunday night speech on Iraq, addressed the controversy surrounding the Patriot Act and took questions on those and other subjects.
Washington Post:SPEAKER: GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Discussion:
Let Freedom Ring
Washington Post:
President's Approval Rating Rebounds — President Bush's approval rating has surged in recent weeks, reversing what had been an extended period of decline, with Americans now expressing renewed optimism about the future of democracy in Iraq, the campaign against terrorism and the U.S. economy …
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CNN:
Iraq speeches, election don't help Bush — New poll: A majority doesn't approve of his handling of Iraq — CNN — President Bush's approval ratings do not appear to have changed significantly, despite a number of recent speeches he's given to shore up public support for the war in Iraq and its historic elections on Thursday.
Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
Poll: Bush's Approval Ratings Climb — Iraqi Elections, Economic Gains Lift President From Career Lows — Dec. 19, 2005 — The recent elections in Iraq and an improved economic outlook at home have shifted public support in the president's direction, lifting him from career lows in his job performance and personal ratings alike.
Joshua Roberts / Newsweek:
Bush's Snoopgate — The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times' eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper's editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn't just out of concern about national security. — Bush says he had 'legal authority' to permit …
Discussion:
IntoxiNation-News …, Attytood, firedoglake, The Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos
accessnorthga.com:
Congressman calls for Bush impeachment — U.S. Rep. John Lewis said Monday in a radio interview that President Bush should be impeached if he broke the law in authorizing spying on Americans. — The Democratic senator from Georgia told WAOK-AM he would sign a bill of impeachment …
Discussion:
boxer.senate.gov, JunkYardBlog, Shakespeare's Sister, Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Teen
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Media Matters for America:
Couric pitted constitutional scholars versus "Americans" who "don't want another September 11" … On the December 19 broadcast of NBC's Today, host Katie Couric asked NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert whether the debate over the Bush administration's secret use of domestic surveillance without …
rawstory.com:
Democrats plan sharp rebuke of pre-war intelligence, Iraq war in massive new congressional report — House Judiciary Committee Democrats, spearheaded by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), are set to release possibly the sharpest congressional critique to date surrounding Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
Michael J. Totten:
Nasser's Biggest Crime — CAIRO - Egyptian blogger Big Pharaoh gave me an insider's tour of Cairo and the ghastly political situation facing his country today. — He took me down 26 of July Street on foot to the bridge over the Nile connecting Zamalek island to the mainland.
John / AMERICAblog:
Did Bush domestic spy program eavesdrop on American journalists? — I had an interesting discussion this morning with DC political consultant Marc Laitin. We both came to the conclusion that it sounds like Bush's super-secret illegal domestic spying program may be targeting US journalists …
