Originally Posted by 98CoupeV6
What don't you understand:
About that?
Nice job getting off track with your anti-Bush liberal talking points about how stupid he is and how everything he does is wrong
Are we debating the constitutionality of the wiretapping program, or how shitty Bush is?
There's absolutely no point in debating with you. You're a typical left wing lunatic with your own agenda. Your 'arguments' are full of personal opinion. I don't see any basis in fact or reality from your side dude.
Here's the pertinent SCOTUS ruling
Originally Posted by United States v. U.S. District Court
Held:
1. Section 2511 (3) is merely a disclaimer of congressional intent to define presidential powers in matters affecting national security, and is not a grant of authority to conduct warrantless national security surveillances. Pp. 301-308. [407 U.S. 297, 298]
2. The Fourth Amendment (which shields private speech from unreasonable surveillance) requires prior judicial approval for the type of domestic security surveillance involved in this case. Pp. 314-321; 323-324.
(a) The Government's duty to safeguard domestic security must be weighed against the potential danger that unreasonable surveillances pose to individual privacy and free expression. Pp. 314-315.
(b) The freedoms of the Fourth Amendment cannot properly be guaranteed if domestic security surveillances are conducted solely within the discretion of the Executive Branch without the detached judgment of a neutral magistrate. Pp. 316-318.
(c) Resort to appropriate warrant procedure would not frustrate the legitimate purposes of domestic security searches. Pp. 318-321.
Which, in summary
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The Court held government officials were obligated to obtain a warrant before beginning electronic surveillance even if domestic security issues were involved. The "inherent vagueness of the domestic security concept" and the potential for abusing it to quell political dissent made the Fourth Amendment protections especially important when the government engaged in spying on its own citizens.
I'm not going to argue everything again, but if the warrantless wiretaps Bush put in place affected any US citizens, no matter how suspicious they may be, he has violated the US Constitution, which, to me, does warrant at least investigation, if not impeachment.
Whether these rights expand to foreigners in the United States is a little more tricky. The 4th amendment is not explicit in whether it applies to non citizens of the US, but the 14th amendment explicitly "individuals", not "citizens," so it could be argued that due process is a right of any person charged in the US. However, this argument is much more tenuous, and I feel that in light of the last 5 years, monitoring of foreign nationals is not necessarily inappropriate.
Bottom line is that I would like to know the full extent of these wiretaps, and if US citizens were involved.