Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Wartime Fisa

Here's another close-in defense weapon the administration will likely use in the NSA argument. From subsection 1811:
Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for a period not to exceed fifteen calendar days following a declaration of war by the Congress.

Does the "specific statutory authorization" in the AUMF constitute a "declaration of war by the Congress?"

Dollars to donuts, when push comes to biff, Gonzales will argue that it did.

#

This clause, by the way, is the first instance I've found of a specific power granted to the President by Congress in a time of "declared war."

Whether this piece of legislature is constitutional is another question.

No comments:

Post a Comment