Judge resigns seat on spy court

In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration's covert domestic wiretap program, a federal judge who has been one of the judiciary's most intrusive and feisty critics of the Guantánamo Bay detention center quit a secret court that oversees U.S. intelligence wiretaps.


....''Apparently Judge Robertson did not want to aid and abet criminal NSA electronic surveillance,'' said a statement from the New York Center for Constitutional Rights, which has for four years alleged that the administration is overstepping its war powers -- in both its Guantánamo court and enemy combatant practices.

Bush Misses the Point on Spying...Again

"The Bush administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress late Thursday saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored.

In a letter to the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees, the Justice Department said
President Bush authorized electronic surveillance without first obtaining a warrant in an effort to thwart terrorist acts against the United States."

This threadbare argument distorts the facts. Within the law, the Administration can tap phones for 72 hours while they seek a warrant from the secret FISA courts. These courts have NEVER denied a warrant. So what is the problem that led the Administration to refuse to even apply for warrants as required by the law? There are no delays under the current system, and the issuing of warrants has never been mentioned as a problem.

If the administration was worried that the warrants wouldn't be granted, then it suggests that there was precious little evidence that these wire taps were really directed at Al Qaida as the administration claims. Or was it simply that this Administration is addicted to operating outside the law?