Democrats May Subpoena N.S.A. Documents

[maddezmom]

Source: NYT

By JAMES RISEN
Published: June 8, 2007
WASHINGTON, June 7 — Senior House Democrats threatened Thursday to issue subpoenas to obtain secret legal opinions and other documents from the Justice Department related to the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program.

If the Democrats take that step, it would mark the most aggressive action yet by Congress in its oversight of the wiretapping program and could set the stage for a constitutional showdown over the separation of powers.

The subpoena threat came after a senior Justice Department official told a House judiciary subcommittee on Thursday that the department would not turn over the documents because of their confidential nature. But the official, Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel, did not assert executive privilege during the hearing.

~snip~

“How can we begin to consider FISA legislation when we don’t know what they are doing?” asked Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, who heads the subcommittee.

On May 17, after Mr. Comey’s testimony, Mr. Nadler and Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, who is the chairman of the full Judiciary Committee, wrote to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales requesting copies of Justice Department legal opinions used to support the N.S.A. wiretapping program, as well as later documents written by top Justice Department officials that raised questions about the program’s legality in 2004. The letter also asked Mr. Gonzales to provide his own description of the 2004 confrontation.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/washington/08nsa.html

[murielm99]

1. I'm beginning to like this Nadler. nt

[Kiouni]

2. So basically Congress would be doing their job

and providing oversight. It's about time.

[radfringe]

3. key words "MAY" and "THREATENED"

I'll believe it when I see it...

so far there have been as many "last chances" to appear/produce documents that it rivals the number of #2's killed/capture in Iraq

[deacon]

4. This congress is pathetic - if you can't make a move on this

group of thugs- you should not have been given the job. Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn to them. We elected the wrong people for the job.

[PassingFair]

5. JUST DO IT.

After lying us into Iraq, I consider the NSA wiretaps to
be his second greatest offense while in office.

I can't believe that the country is not outraged over this.