Right Side of the Rainbow

So says John Schmidt, former associate attorney general under President Clinton:

President Bush’s post-Sept. 11, 2001 authorization to the National Security Agency to carry out electronic surveillance into private phone calls and e-mails is consistent with court decisions and with the positions of the Justice Department under prior presidents.

[…]

In the most recent judicial statement on the issue, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, composed of three federal appellate court judges, said in 2002 that “All the … courts to have decided the issue held that the president did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence … We take for granted that the president does have that authority.”

For clear, concise and authoritative commentary on this “controversy,” read the rest.

Note especially Mr. Schmidt’s argument about FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Even if the surveillance at issue here violates the Act, it’s irrelevant. For Congress cannot by statute limit the president’s constitutional authority.