http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/24/senator_bushs_spying_raises_concerns/?city_local

Quote :

"Senator: Bush’s spying raises concerns Brownback disagrees with legal rationale Topeka — U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., on Friday said the Bush administration needed to answer questions about spying on Americans without court authorization. And Brownback said he disagreed with the administration’s legal rationale, which he said could hamper future presidents during war. “There are questions that should be examined at this point in time,” Brownback said during a news conference. Bush has confirmed that he approved allowing the National Security Agency to monitor Americans without seeking warrants from a secret federal court that oversees the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. Bush said the move was necessary to fight the war on terror. The administration said Bush’s decision was legal in part because of a congressional resolution that authorized force to fight terrorism, which was adopted after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Brownback said he disagreed with that justification. "I do not agree with the legal basis on which they are basing their surveillance — that when the Congress gave the authorization to go to war that that gives sufficient legal basis for the surveillance,” he said. He said if the justification holds up, “you’re going to have real trouble having future Congresses giving approval to presidents to go to war.” Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged he was aware of Bush’s secret operation, and that he agreed with it and thought it was legal. Brownback said he wasn’t opposed to the administration conducting surveillance but that the legal basis had to be straightened out. He said of Roberts, “My colleague Pat Roberts is doing an outstanding job on intelligence. It’s a tough issue.” And he defended Roberts against criticisms from top Democrats on the Intelligence Committee who have said they had problems with Bush’s operation. Brownback said the controversy was becoming politicized. He said the best way to examine the issues was to have hearings when Congress reconvenes in January. Brownback is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has already announced that he plans such hearings. In a related development, it was revealed Friday that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito advocated a strategy to strengthen the government’s power in ordering domestic wiretaps when he worked for the Reagan Justice Department in 1984. Asked whether that position espoused by Alito should be part of his confirmation hearing, Brownback, who supports Alito’s nomination, said it should. “Anything in his record is subject to the hearing and review and should be,” Brownback said."

Not well versed on this source, but unless they pull their quotes from the fucking sky, this is ominous news for the President. The double whammy is that this appears on the same day the Congressional Research Service reports "the Administration's legal justification, as presented in the summary analysis from the Office of Legislative Affairs, does not seem to be as well-grounded as the tenor of that letter suggests."

1/7/2006 12:02:29 AM

i've said for a while now

some repub with 08 hopes is gonna do something to distance himself as much as possible from the pres

1/7/2006 12:28:23 AM

We need to get the reigns back around these turncoats!!!

I'll admit that I haven't stayed up to date on this spying thing, but I am a bit squeamish about it just on principle. Having a serious discussion about it among the elected people in the know isn't a horrible idea. Whether that would actually happen, of course, is an entirely different matter. However, I will say that I don't espouse the president's point blank "I am the president and we are at war. suck it!" attitude

1/7/2006 12:36:01 AM

aha! we've finally found aaronburro's limit on blind loyalty to his party and GWB

truthfully i thought this would never happen

1/7/2006 12:44:38 AM

haha. my "limit" was reached long ago. hell, my limit was reached when dubya proposed invading iraq

1/7/2006 12:48:37 AM

Judicial oversight? Not for the neo-cons.

[Edited on January 7, 2006 at 12:54 AM. Reason : -]

1/7/2006 12:53:28 AM

I'm pretty sure the judges hate our freedom.

1/7/2006 2:39:38 PM

If Senator Brownback is talking back, then you've got some serious problems. He is afterall considered the unofficial spokesperson for the Christian Right in the Senate.

1/7/2006 3:23:23 PM

He graduated Summa Cum Laude from my school of Constitutional Law.

1/7/2006 8:49:19 PM

BROWNBACK MOUNTAIN

1/8/2006 8:59:19 AM