The Legality of Spying (Part 2)

The President contends that he placed the spy networks in place pursuant to the Constitutional authority afforded him as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In times of war, the President has extraordinary powers and rightfully so. Decisions need to be made and the President should be the one making them. However, the President is operating under the misguided assumption that the Resolution signed by Congress was a declaration of war. Congress only gave the President the authority to do what was necessary in the fight against terrorism. However, the President needed to stay within the bounds set forth by the Constitution as Congress has no authority under these circumstances to grant the President the power to disregard the Constitutional safeguards provided to all.

Spying on the enemy is necessary for our security, but our spy agencies should not be let loose with carte blanche authority to intercept any and all communications within the United States that they deem appropriate to scrutinize. FISA has been on the books for almost thirty years. It has been around that long for a reason: to provide judicial oversight. If the President has the power as Commander-in-Chief to suspend the Bill of Rights, then there would be no need for such a law.