More Judicial Activism

[Shaun @ Tru6]

When will these activist judges wake up and get with mainstream America?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,179344,00.html

Surveillance Court Judge Resigns

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has resigned from a special court set up to oversee government surveillance, FOX News confirmed Wednesday.

The judge's action followed revelations last week of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program on people with suspected terrorist ties.

Two associates of U.S. District Judge James Robertson told The Washington Post that he had submitted his resignation out of deep concern that the surveillance program Bush authorized was legally questionable and may have tainted the work of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Click here to read The Washington Post story.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not discuss Robertson's resignation or the reasons cited for his departure. "Judge Robertson did not comment on the matter and I don't see any reason why we need to," McClellan said.

Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, stepped down from the court via a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts. He did not offer an explanation and will stay on in his role as a federal district judge for the District of Columbia.

Legal experts, however, said they know why Robertson quit.

"This was definitely a statement of protest," said Scott Silliman, a former Air Force attorney and Duke University law professor. "It is unusual because it signifies that at least one member of the court believes that the president has exceeded his legal authority."

Ruth Wedgwood, a Johns Hopkins University professor and defender of many Bush administration policies in the terror war, said that service on the special court is voluntary.

"If Judge Robertson had strong feelings that he thought would interfere with the needed objectivity, one could understand his decision," she said.

Robertson was appointed a federal judge by President Clinton in 1994. Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed him to the FISA court in 2002 after Congress, through the Patriot Act, expanded the number of judges on the court from seven to 11.

The court is responsible for authorizing warrants for secret surveillance or searches of foreigners and U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism or espionage. According to the rules of the court, the judges are on call all the time to issue warrants. Three of the 11 judges must be within 20 miles of Washington, D.C.

Robertson, whose term was up in May, has been critical of the Bush administration's treatment of detainees at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, most memorably in a decision that sidetracked the president's system of military tribunals to put some detainees on trial.

Robertson's resignation was reported hours after Vice President Dick Cheney strongly defended the surveillance program and called for "strong and robust" presidential powers.

Cheney — a former member of congress, defense secretary and White House chief of staff under President Ford — said executive authority has been eroding since the Watergate and Vietnam eras.

"I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it," Cheney said.

"I would argue that the actions that we've taken there are totally appropriate and consistent with the constitutional authority of the president. ... You know, it's not an accident that we haven't been hit in four years," the vice president said, speaking with reporters Tuesday on Air Force Two en route from Pakistan to Oman.

Republicans said Congress must investigate whether Bush was within the law to allow the super-secret National Security Agency to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to Al Qaeda.

"I believe the Congress — as a coequal branch of government — must immediately and expeditiously review the use of this practice," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

Snowe joined three other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel, in calling for a joint inquiry by the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees.

Bush and his top advisers have suggested senior congressional leaders vetted the program in more than a dozen highly classified briefings. Several Democrats agreed said they were told of the program, but did not know the full details and had concerns.

[legion]

See, this is the right way to be an activist judge.

[Nathans_Dad]

I agree. If he has a problem with the policy he has every right to resign. I wouldn't consider this being an "activist judge".

[legion]

We can only hope that the 9th Circuit follows his lead.

[cowtown]

I think quitting is an honorable way to make a statement. I've got huge problems with what Bush is doing to evade a paper trail and oversight, even though I voted for the guy twice. I think he'd better start talking, or this is going to get messy on a Nixon scale.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by legion
We can only hope that the 9th Circuit follows his lead.

Boy, aint that the truth. Them and reality are a long way apart most of the time...

JoeA

[legion]

Originally posted by cowtown
I think quitting is an honorable way to make a statement. I've got huge problems with what Bush is doing to evade a paper trail and oversight, even though I voted for the guy twice. I think he'd better start talking, or this is going to get messy on a Nixon scale.

I agree, and it may well be warranted in this case.

I think we, as citizens, have the right to know about these programs. However, making the programs public knowledge gives terrorists a very valuable tool. It's a catch 22 in my opinion, and there is no easy answer.

[Rodeo]

Judge Robertson made a point I hadn't thought of, in trying to fathom why the admin would make such a blatently unconstitutional (and secret) executive order.

The judge was concerned that the information obtained from the illegal spying was finding its way into the legal warrant applications he was presented, making him complicit in the crime. Kind of like money laundering. Ge the info ilegally and then wash it through the warrant process to make it come out clean.

The more I think about this the more angry I get.

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by legion
I agree, and it may well be warranted in this case.

I think we, as citizens, have the right to know about these programs. However, making the programs public knowledge gives terrorists a very valuable tool. It's a catch 22 in my opinion, and there is no easy answer.

legion, making this program public has had zero impact on enforcement. Another reason to not trust this president, the manufactured anger, the deceptive claim that outing warrantless searches has somehow made America less secure.

If you are a terrorist, you know that your phone can be tapped, you email monitored, etc. etc. Whether it is done properly through the FISA court or illegally without any oversight or record would be of little concern to you.

Maybe I'm missing something. Tell me how knowing about this secret warrantless program could possible help terrorists.

[kach22i]

Robertson, whose term was up in May, has been critical of the Bush administration's treatment of detainees at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, most memorably in a decision that sidetracked the president's system of military tribunals to put some detainees on trial.

January, February, March, April, May....................that's enough time to write a thick book on his experiences.

[lendaddy]

It could be as simple as containing leaks. The less who know the less chance of a leak. You have to remember that Bush did this immediately after 9/11 as an emergency measure. I too am interested in his reasoning for not using FISA, but it's been done before and the justice department backs its legality.

[Tobra]

Originally posted by Rodeo
legion, making this program public has had zero impact on enforcement. Another reason to not trust this president, the manufactured anger, the deceptive claim that outing warrantless searches has somehow made America less secure.

If you are a terrorist, you know that your phone can be tapped, you email monitored, etc. etc. Whether it is done properly through the FISA court or illegally without any oversight or record would be of little concern to you.

Maybe I'm missing something. Tell me how knowing about this secret warrantless program could possible help terrorists.

There is no possible way you could know if your first paragraph contains the merest grain of truth. I agree that this judge has done the honorable thing in resigning, though if he truly is convinced the law has been broken, isn't the Bench a singularly effective forum to effect change?

It is almost certain you and I are both missing something. I have no doubt there are many things going on now and over the last 10-20 years regarding surveillance and information gleaned from it the average American will never know about...

[Rodeo]

Originally posted by Tobra
I have no doubt there are many things going on now and over the last 10-20 years regarding surveillance and information gleaned from it the average American will never know about...

I think we had better make it our business to find out. Ignoring this breach will only make the next one worse.

We have been pretty spoiled thus far in our lives. Sometimes you have to earn your freedom. This is one of those times.