What Carl Levin was doing today
During the Gonzales hearing today, Carl Levin made a very big point to establish that the Bush administration was not abandoning its claim of executive power that enabled them (they claim) to enact the illegal wiretapping around the FISA court.
His contention, affirmed by Gonzales, was that if they maintained the claim to that power, then, despite their current return to the FISA court, they could, at any time, abandon the process and return the program to its previous status.
Why this is important is outlined in this fascinating NYTimes analysis piece. If the remedy is already enacted, then any case before the courts is automatically moot. However, if the administration's position is that that executive power still exists and could be reimplemented, all of the existing court cases are still relevant and will proceed.
Without Levin, that claim to power might not have ever been made so explicitly. Freakin' brilliant.
His contention, affirmed by Gonzales, was that if they maintained the claim to that power, then, despite their current return to the FISA court, they could, at any time, abandon the process and return the program to its previous status.
Why this is important is outlined in this fascinating NYTimes analysis piece. If the remedy is already enacted, then any case before the courts is automatically moot. However, if the administration's position is that that executive power still exists and could be reimplemented, all of the existing court cases are still relevant and will proceed.
Without Levin, that claim to power might not have ever been made so explicitly. Freakin' brilliant.
posted by mikevotes at
9:29 PM
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