Tuesday, December 20, 2005
A law professor said the president violated federal law.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- A defiant President Bush said Monday that he didn't need explicit permission from Congress or the courts to establish a secret domestic surveillance program to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists.
At a White House news conference, Bush expressed outrage that the program had become public and vowed to continue it. The president said his constitutional power as commander in chief and the congressional resolution that authorized the use of military force against terrorists gave him the authority to order the eavesdropping.
If anything, his explanation only fueled more anger over the domestic spying, and some legal experts asserted that Bush broke the law on a scale that could warrant his impeachment.
"The president's dead wrong. It's not a close question. Federal law is clear," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and a specialist in surveillance law. "When the president admits that he violated federal law, that raises serious constitutional questions of high crimes and misdemeanors."
Impeachment talk
There's little enthusiasm for impeachment in the Republican-controlled Congress, but few lawmakers have rallied to Bush's defense. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has promised a full investigation into the surveillance program early next year.
Two Democratic lawmakers who'd been briefed on the program well before it became public last week accused Bush and his advisers of withholding key details.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said they had objected to Bush's plan, but had no way to stop it without exposing classified information.
Bush went on the offensive against his critics as other administration officials provided new details of the surveillance program and the legal rationale behind it.
"My personal opinion is, it was a shameful act for someone to disclose this very important program in a time of war," Bush said. "The fact that we're discussing this program is helping the enemy."
Communications tapped
The program, run by the top-secret National Security Agency, targets telephone conversations and e-mails from this country to suspected terrorists overseas. Bush authorized the eavesdropping after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to bypass a federal law that requires court approval for domestic surveillance.
"We've got to be fast on our feet, quick to detect and prevent," Bush said. "Do I have the legal authority to do so? The answer is, absolutely."
Legal experts and congressional Democrats disdained Bush's legal reasoning.
"I can't believe anyone sincerely believes these arguments," Turley said. "This is really beyond the pale."
"Where does he find in the Constitution the authority to tap the wires and the phones of American citizens without any court oversight?" asked Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the top Democrat in the Senate Armed Services Committee.