Senators Focus on Wiretapping Program

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Neil King Jr. neil.king@wsj.com]
Early next month, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on President Bush's wiretapping program. The central question may be 'Is it legal?' Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez will argue that President Bush has the right to authorize the National Security Agency to conduct widespread wiretaps outside legal channels. A definitive answer is unlikely to come from Congress and lawyers are instead turning to the courts. Two civil lawsuits filed yesterday -- one in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union and another in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights -- opened another front in the battle, and showed some of the hazards that lie ahead. Both suits allege that the U.S. government violated the privacy and free-speech rights of certain named plaintiffs -- including lawyers, journalists and academics -- by possibly eavesdropping on their communications without a warrant. The two suits seek to have the program ruled unconstitutional. But in both cases, the plaintiffs have no evidence that they were caught up in the NSA program. Without evidence of harm -- or what is called legal standing -- neither case is likely to go far.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113753396533348864.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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* White House Disputes Gore on NSA Spying
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR200601...
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* The wiretaps shouldn't bug us
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Max Boot]
[Commentary] As long as federal surveillance remains targeted on the country's enemies, not on the president's, the public will continue to yawn at hyperbolic criticisms of the commander in chief.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-boot18jan18,0,182...
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