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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 …
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New York Times:
Administration Cites War Vote in Spying Case — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President Bush and two of his most senior aides argued Monday that the highly classified program to spy on suspected members of terrorist groups in the United States grew out of the president's constitutional authority …
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:
Obsidian Wings, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Stop The ACLU, Billmon, Eschaton, www.AndrewSullivan.com, In Search Of Utopia, Stop the Bleating! and First Draft
Daniel J. Solove / Concurring Opinions:
Beyond His Power: Bush's Authorization of Warrantless NSA Surveillance — In this post, I aim to explore more in depth whether Bush had the legal power to authorize warrantless NSA surveillance. As I was putting the finishing touches on this post, I noticed that Orin Kerr beat me to the punch …
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
WHAT IS THE NSA UP TO?....So what's the nature of the secret NSA bugging program? Why did the Bush administration feel like they couldn't continue to seek warrants via the usual FISA procedures? Take a look at the following quotes and you can see a single thread that starts to emerge:
volokh.com:
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. … I assume that the Administration's claim is that the AUMF counts as a "statute" that authorizes the surveillance: 50 U.S.C. 1809 states that "A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally . . . engages in electronic surveillance under color …
Discussion:
OxBlog, Power Line, A Columbia Law Student Blog, Hugh Hewitt, Is That Legal? and Confederate Yankee
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:
Right Wing Nut House, The Peking Duck, The Mahablog, IntoxiNation-News …, The Poor Man, The Strata-Sphere, Let Freedom Ring, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Prairie Weather, Macsmind, firedoglake, The Washington Monthly, Donklephant, Booman Tribune ~ Boo!, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, AMERICAblog, Hullabaloo, Running Scared and Mia Culpa
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Will / Attytood:
"All the news that's fit to print" — except when it's about us — The New York Times has been scooped (again) tonight — on a big national story with sweeping significance. But now, it's not on CIA black prisons (that was the Washington Post) or the Pentagon's paid propaganda in Iraq (broken by the L.A. Times).
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Next Hurrah, NewsBusters.org, JustOneMinute and Alternate Brain
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.
Discussion:
Informed Comment
Emily Francona / Intelligence Perspectives:
NSA: Domestic communications intercepts — Bush authorized spying multiple times — Senior intelligence officer says president personally gave NSA permission — While there are still details of this development we don't know yet and probably won't know because of the classified nature of the activity …
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Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:"Catch them, but do not watch them!"
Discussion:
In Search Of Utopia
Walid Phares / The Counterterrorism Blog:Catch them, but do not watch them!.. — "Use their systems …
Discussion:
Froggy Ruminations
National Review:Why Bush Approved the Wiretaps
Discussion:
The Decembrist, Power Line, The Right Coast, Preemptive Karma, Secular Blasphemy, BrothersJudd Blog and Southern Appeal
Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment …
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Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:
FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked — FBI counterterrorism investigators are monitoring domestic U.S. advocacy groups engaged in antiwar, environmental, civil rights and other causes, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday as it released new FBI records …
Discussion:
rawstory.com, The Moderate Voice, Mia Culpa, Dan Gillmor's blog and The Democratic Daily Blog
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 …
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rawstory.com:Senator says she's asked for opinions on Bush impeachment
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Faithful Progressive, IntoxiNation-News …, The Democratic Daily Blog and Pardon My English
Barbara Boxer / boxer.senate.gov:Boxer Asks Presidential Scholars …
Discussion:
The Left Coaster, Shakespeare's Sister, The Democratic Daily Blog and Everything Between
Edward Wong / New York Times:
Religious Groups Take Early Lead in Iraqi Ballots — BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 19 - Early voting results announced by Iraqi electoral officials on Monday, with nearly two-thirds of the ballots counted, indicated that religious groups, particularly the main Shiite coalition, had taken a commanding lead.
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Opinion Journal:
Our Friends the Pakistanis — Support for the U.S. is surging in some parts of the Muslim world. — So much for the popularly peddled view that anti-Americanism in the Muslim world is so pervasive and deep-rooted it might take generations to alter. A new poll from Pakistan …
Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette:
"MIKE" — Via email: — Came across your blog this morning, and thought I'd share my thoughts as the dad of an American Soldier killed in action four months ago. My son was standing cover flank for two buddies checking out a suspicous location in the roadway while on patrol at 2:20 A.M. 16 Aug when an IED exploded.
Richard Ford / Times of London:
'Britishness test' for imams is abandoned — PLANS to force foreign-born imams to take a "Britishness test" were scrapped yesterday in the second climbdown in less than a week on proposals to tighten scrutiny of mosques. — The Home Office dropped the idea after opposition from Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE
