Yipping Redux

Snarlin' Arlen takes to the pages of the WaPo to complain and split hairs:

President Bush's electronic surveillance program has been a festering sore on our body politic since it was publicly disclosed last December. Civil libertarians, myself included, have insisted that the program must be subject to judicial review to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment.

[...]

Critics complain that the bill acknowledges the president's inherent Article II power and does not insist on FISA's being the exclusive procedure for the authorization of wiretapping. They are wrong. The president's constitutional power either exists or does not exist, no matter what any statute may say. If the appellate court precedents cited above are correct, FISA is not the exclusive procedure. If the president's assertion of inherent executive authority meets the Fourth Amendment's "reasonableness" test, it provides an alternative legal basis for surveillance, however FISA may purport to limit presidential power. The bill does not accede to the president's claims of inherent presidential power; that is for the courts either to affirm or reject. It merely acknowledges them, to whatever extent they may exist.

Wow. Really standing up to the Administration, aren't you, Arlen? Acknowledging "inherent presidential power" and then tossing the issue to the courts (unelected judges!).

Arlen concludes petulantly:

In my opinion, it is intolerable to let this matter drift indefinitely. If someone has a better idea for legislation that would resolve the program's legality or can negotiate a better compromise with the president, I will be glad to listen.

OK, Arlen, listen up: MAKE THE PRESIDENT ADHERE TO THE CONSTITUTION. Really, this isn't all that difficult to grasp.

But maybe it is for a small, annoying dog.

UPDATE: Glenn has more.


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