This is the reason I still have some hope. The little bureaucratic snafu that gave this person the evidence to prove that they had, in fact, been illegally wiretapped, is what will let this case get past the judicial standing dodge and allow a court to rule on the merits of the illegal wiretap program. And that scares the bejeebus out of the Bush administration because they know that they have no legal legs to stand on, bluster notwithstanding.
Every judge who has actually ruled on the merits of Bush's legal arguments (and there are only two now) has declared them to be utterly meritless (I thought of using more colorful language here, but "utterly meritless" will suffice). So Bush is scared. I can't wait to see this case get its day in court. I hope it happens sooner, rather than later.
What we REALLY need is someone to actually go and prosecute the violations of FISA - it is a criminal law, after all. There, standing is irrelevant. But then no US attorney is going to prosecute this, for obvious reasons. I think it is time to put impeachment back on the table.
Reminder
12 years ago
2 comments:
Well, in addition to political concerns, there are more evidence issues than you can shake a stick at. Back when I was in a seminar at law school dealing with those issues, there was only one published case that directly dealt with FISA. You would not believe (okay, probably you would) how much of the decision was redacted. Given that, I can easily imagine how insanely difficult it would be for a prosecutor to accumulate enough evidence to sustain a case.
One would think that the prosecutors would be given full security clearances so they get to see all of the evidence, even if they are not able to show all of it in open court.
After all, if the reason you can't prosecute is because the evidence is classified, wouldn't that preclude any Gitmo detainees from ever going to trial? Apparently it does not.
But you are right, politics trumps all - and to a degree never imagined before under the reign of King George W. Bush.
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