No Man Is Above The Law

Apparently, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales thinks that the Bush administration can break the law and then not suffer any consequences because they said they stopped breaking the law. (Remember; they have not proved that they have stopped breaking the law. They just said that they stopped breaking the law.)

Anti-terror program subject of constitutional arguments

CINCINNATI (AP) — President Bush's program of secretly monitoring communications without a court warrant faces legal assaults on its constitutionality in arguments Wednesday before a federal appeals court.

The government is appealing the ruling of a federal district judge in Detroit who said the warrantless surveillance violated rights of privacy and free speech as well as separation of powers. The Justice Department last week urged the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out the case, saying it no longer was at issue.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said this month that the secret panel of judges who oversee the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed by Congress in 1978, now is reviewing and approving applications to monitor people believed to have terrorist links. The Justice Department said in a court brief that means there's "no longer any live genuine controversy to adjudicate."

No longer any controversy to adjudicate?!

A continuous crime was being committed by the Bush Administration, and now, simply because they say they stopped continually committing that crime, there is no longer any controversy?! That is insane and illogical. Gonzales has to be crazy to argue that.

Could you imagine if a serial killer made the same argument? "Oh, I stopped killing people, so there's no need to prosecute me for my past murders."

They lost this case once, and now they are appealing to have this case thrown out based on this ridiculous, illogical idea.

"For all the drama around the case, we see the ultimate legal issue to be a very narrow, noncontroversial one — that is, when Congress passes a law, the president has to follow it," said Ann Beeson, the ACLU's lead attorney on the case. "If they were really committed to following the FISA law in the future, they should have no objection to being bound by the district court order."

This is all very simple. Congress creates the law, the White House obeys and enforces the law, and the Supreme Court judges the law. The concept is simple. It is what we base our government upon. It is how our government works. Everyone from the fifth grade up understands this concept except the Bush administration.

They have done everything to try to usurp the power of the other two branches of government. If they do not like a law they change it, ignore it, or rule it unconstitutional, but that is not their job. They do not have those powers, and yet because of the inefficacy and corruption of the 107th, the 108th, and the 109th Congress, no one was there to stop the White House from taking those powers.

Fortunately, now that there is a new sheriff Congress in town, the Bush administration's attempt to turn our country into a dictatorship is at an end. Even if it is late, it is better late than never.

Hopefully, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will not find any merit in Gonzales' illogical argument and help defend our country from would-be dictators like George W. Bush.