Reply #50: Ok, if they "think" they were doing it legally... [View All]

[jsamuel]

(I kind of associate this with the category of: "Well, I didn't know it was illegal." defense, which as we all know, never holds up in court.)

But, the argument that they are using is that FISA is unconstitutional because "inherent authority" gives the President the right to ignore laws passed by Congress.

That is their argument.

I have already outlined why that is not the case.


You make the point that they are just using the argument, "they don't really mean to say that the President is immune from law, period." Whether that is what they are trying to say or not is irrelevant. The argument itself states that. If they use this argument and it succeeds or is ruled a valid argument, then the President is henceforth immune from laws of Congress. It will be a dictatorship. Whether or not Bush or the next president (Democrat or Republican) intends to use this is another question, but as history has shown us, people like Hitler seem to always be waiting in the wings for just such a moment. It will give whoever wants to abuse the power the green light.