Bush gets key backing on spy policy

The background "noise" created by the likes of Boxer, Feingold, Pelosi, Reid, etc concerning the intelligence collection by the NSA is irrelevant. One man who's opinion really does matter is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration found a key ally on Capitol Hill Monday as it broadened its aggressive defense of a recently revealed domestic spying program that used warrantless surveillance.

Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “believes the program is consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution,” Sarah Little, Roberts’ spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.

Roberts, in his first public remarks on the electronic surveillance program, indicated he has known about the program since he took over the committee in 2003. He said he believes the administration has taken proper safeguards to preserve Americans’ civil liberties and is in talks with Senate leaders on what additional oversight steps Congress should take, Little said.

Senator Roberts believes that in a time of war, the president should have every lawful authority to protect the American people,” Little said.

You are absolutely correct Sen. Roberts. Here is one reason why.....

The courts have been explicit on this point, most recently in In Re: Sealed Case, the 2002 opinion by the special panel of appellate judges established to hear FISA appeals. In its per curiam opinion, the court noted that in a previous FISA case (U.S. v. Truong), a federal "court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue [our emphasis], held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." And further that "we take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."