R-Sen DeWine tried to eliminate essential part of FISA in June '02

[caligirl]

@Glenn Greenwald blog site todays article shows DeWine tried to help Bush subvert FISA by legislating out the probable cause needed to get a warrant.

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The Administration's new FISA defense is factually false

In light of Gen. Hayden's new claim yesterday that the reason the Bush Administration decided to eavesdrop outside of FISA is because the "probable cause" standard for obtaining a FISA warrant was too onerous (and prevented them from obtaining warrants they needed to eavesdrop), there is a fact which I have not seen discussed anywhere but which now appears extremely significant, at least to me.

In June, 2002, Republican Sen. Michael DeWine of Ohio introduced legislation (S. 2659) which would have eliminated the exact barrier to FISA which Gen. Hayden yesterday said is what necessitated the Administration bypassing FISA. Specifically, DeWine's legislation proposed:


to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to modify the standard of proof for issuance of orders regarding non-United States persons from probable cause to reasonable suspicion. . . .


In other words, DeWine's bill, had it become law, would have eliminated the "probable cause" barrier (at least for non-U.S. persons) which the Administration is now pointing to as the reason why it had to circumvent FISA.

Then Jim Baker got involved>>>http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/



Yesterday I watched a bit of Gen. Hayden and it sure was fun hearing reporters get tough on him about the probable cause he said they didn't need. So today I was happy to see this issue raised again at Greenwalds blogsite.

Cspan video of Gen Hayden is listed first here>http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=general+Hayden&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=Submit



"Two other points to note about this failed DeWine Amendment that are extremely important:

(1) Congress refused to enact the DeWine Amendment and thus refused to lower the FISA standard from "probable cause" to "reasonable suspicion." It is the height of absurdity for the Administration to now suggest that Congress actually approved of this change and gave it authorization to do just that -- when Congress obviously had no idea it was being done and refused to pass that change into law when it had the chance.

(2) DeWine's amendment would have lowered the standard for obtaining a FISA warrant only for non-U.S. persons -- whereas for "U.S. persons," the standard would have continued to be "probable cause." And, DeWine's amendment would not have eliminated judicial oversight, since the Administration still would have needed approval of the FISA court for these warrants.
The Administration is stuck with the excuse given by Gen. Hayden yesterday as to why it had to eavesdrop outside of FISA, but that excuse is plainly contradicted by these events and by the Administration's own statements at the time."

"The Administration is stuck with the excuse given by Gen. Hayden yesterday as to why it had to eavesdrop outside of FISA, but that excuse is plainly contradicted by these events and by the Administration's own statements at the time."

[mom cat]

1. Which meant that the Congress has ALREADY decided that what the

president wanted was not legal!

[caligirl]

2. Thats right!

[mom cat]

11. Oops!

[Supersedeas]

14. the law remained the same and they violated it anyways

[peacetalksforall]

3. Juveniles. Children. This is what non-adult people do. The same

people who are running this show ran the Iran-Contra show. They avoided going to Congress and set-up a secret sub-government of their own - affecting international manipulations, trafficking, and their own secret self-funding and profits.

They are willful childish-juvrenile brats who cry when caught. And very, very dangerous. The magnitude of their theft is a slap in the face and a serious affront to the stability of the people and the Constitution that creates the stability.

But, they say no, they say they are saving us.

[Angry Girl]

4. Wow! KnR

Nice post!

[caligirl]

5. It gets even better farther down the article>

"The Department of Justice has been studying Sen. DeWine's proposed legislation. Because the proposed change raises both significant legal and practical issues, the Administration at this time is not prepared to support it.


So, in June, 2002, the Administration refused to support elimination of the very barrier ("probable cause") which Gen. Hayden claimed yesterday necessitated the circumvention of FISA. In doing so, the Administration identified two independent reasons for opposing this amendment. One reason was that the Justice Department was not aware of any problems which the Administration was having in getting the warrants it needed under FISA:
>It may not be the case that the probable cause standard has caused any difficulties in our ability to seek the FISA warrants we require,... "

[daleanime]

6. Uurrrgghh!!!

:rant:

[caligirl]

7. Welcome to DU daleanime

:hi:

[babsbunny]

8. How about emailing DeWine and telling him what an Anti American

He Is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ohio is corrupt!

[caligirl]

9. Naa, I sent it to Ed Shultz and I think I'll send it to the dems on the

sen. judiciary comm.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. They know how to grow Repub Reps down in Ohio - lots of manure

This guy DeWine needs to be voted out of office, if we can get around Blackwell's control of the election machines long enough to do it.

[notadmblnd]

12. This needs a kick for the morning crowd

nt

[0007]

13. General Hayden blew it yesterday. Mr. Hayden proved to the

world that he is incompetent, and that he is nothing more than an ass licking, shit eating, bush loving lying mother fucker. To stand before the people and erroneously claim the meaning of the Fourth Amendments is beyond the pale.

The only credit I can give the General is that he did a better job than Alberto Gonzales. Which was truly amusing sickening.