Summarized -- Specter Expresses Doubts About Surveillance Program - New York Times

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/politics/15cnd-specter.html? 
ei=5094&en=8bde27d3de27b377&hp=&ex=1137387600&partner=homepage&pagewante 
d=print


By BRIAN KNOWLTON, International Herald Tribune WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 -  
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed new doubts  
today about President Bush's domestic surveillance program, even  
mentioning impeachment as one of several potential remedies, should  
the president be found to have violated the law.

...Criminal prosecution was another possibility, he said, while the  
most likely outcome was simply that Mr. Bush might pay a political  
cost among those who believed Americans' right to privacy was being  
infringed.

But the fact that a senior Republican - let alone the Judiciary  
Committee chairman -- would even mention the possibility of a  
president of his own party being impeached was striking, appearing to  
underscore Mr. Specter's deep unhappiness over the program.

...The New York Times reported last month that after the terror  
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush had empowered the National  
Security Agency to bypass a special court established by Congress to  
handle sensitive intelligence matters and to electronically eavesdrop  
on people in the United States believed to be communicating with  
terror suspects abroad.

Senator Specter initially raised strong objections after the Times's  
account was published in December, questioning Bush administration  
arguments that the special court moved too slowly at times when  
security officials were seeking to prevent potentially disastrous  
attacks.

Mr. Bush and other administration officials have asserted that a  
Congressional resolution passed after Sept. 11, authorizing the use  
of force to combat terrorism, provided legal justification for the  
surveillance program.

...Last year, Republicans threatened to block his rise to the  
Judiciary Committee chairmanship after he said that he doubted that a  
Supreme Court nominee who strongly opposed abortion rights could win  
confirmation.

...The senator last week questioned the latest of those nominees,  
Samuel Alito, about his abortion views, but failed to receive the  
firm statement he sought that Judge Alito would not seek to overturn  
the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing abortion rights.

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/