Specter Caves on NSA Oversight

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and conservative members of his panel have reached agreement on legislation that may determine the legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program, GOP sources say.

That sounds encouraging, doesn't it?

Wait. There's more:

Specter has mollified conservative opposition to his bill by agreeing to drop the requirement that the Bush administration seek a legal judgment on the program from a special court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.

Instead, Specter agreed to allow the administration to retain an important legal defense by allowing the court, which holds its hearings in secret, to review the program only by hearing a challenge from a plaintiff with legal standing, said a person familiar with the text of language agreed to by Specter and committee conservatives.

The result? As the article states, if a plaintiff wants to challenge the legality of the warrantless NSA spying program, first of all they would have to do so in a secret court, shielding the case from the public scrutiny that would occur in a federal court. Secondly, they would have to prove actual damages which would then be immediately blocked by government lawyers who would refuse to release facts based on that old 'harmful to national security' defense. Ergo, the plaintiff would be hog-tied and promptly sent home to undo the knots.

The agreement appears to pave the way for the committee to approve Specter’s bill and one sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) granting the surveillance program legal authority.

Once again, every time Bush breaks the law, his rubber-stamp congress moves to cover his ass by then passing a law that would make his actions legal. That is not the proper role of a congress that has the duty to investigate actions of the executive branch without pre-determination and which has the responsibility to be rigorously honest about its findings, followed by appropriate actions based on those findings. Simply having a team huddle behind closed doors and deciding that Bush must be protected at all costs is a violation of the trust the American people have given their elected representatives.