The headline on the front page of the Washington Post today tells readers that [tag]Bush[/tag] “compromised” on his warrantless [tag]surveillance[/tag] program. Similarly, the New York Times leads with word that the [tag]White House[/tag] backed down “after months of resistance.”
Given the details of the “[tag]compromise[/tag],” however, it appears that Bush gave up very little — and Sen. [tag]Arlen Specter[/tag] (R-Penn.), who led the push in the “negotiations,” largely gave away the store.
Specter’s deal, for example, gives the White House the “option” of bringing Bush’s warrantless-search program to the [tag]FISA[/tag] [tag]Court[/tag] for a one-time review. (The president has had this option for years; the point is he’s been blowing off the court.) Also, this review will be conducted entirely in secret. As the NYT explained, court challenges of constitutional issues usually include briefs, oral arguments, and a published ruling. This review of Bush’s program will not only be entirely behind closed doors, the FISA Court’s ruling will also be kept secret.
Of course, Specter’s “deal” was broader than just one voluntary constitutional review.
In addition, the legislation would give the administration greater flexibility in making emergency applications to the FISA court, expanding its window for doing so from three to seven days. Currently, applications must be made by the attorney general or a deputy; the bill would allow a designee to make an application, Specter said.
The measure would allow for roving wiretaps instead of taps of a phone at a fixed point, he said, and spells out that monitoring a telephone call between two overseas locations that is transmitted through a U.S. terminal would not be subject to FISA approval.
What kind of compromise is this?
To summarize, Bush gets caught circumventing the law and conducting searches without warrants or oversight, and thanks to Specter, his punishment is a voluntary secret court review and more presidential power to do what he’s been doing for years.
For that matter, buried in the middle of the WaPo story is a line that explains that Specter “agreed to repeal a section of the original FISA law that made it the exclusive statute governing such intelligence programs.” In other words, the part of the law that Bush was breaking is now off the books entirely.
And just for good measure, it’s also worth considering Glenn Greenwald’s observations, which included a discussion of Specter’s compromise including what is, in effect, “amnesty” language. As Glenn explained, Specter’s deal offers “retroactive de-criminalization” for all the laws the White House has already ignored.
Who could have guessed that Specter would cave so completely? Oh right, everyone could have guessed.