With so many other Amendments, do we really need the Fourth?

Much ink was spilled regarding the Democrats shameless broadening of the Administration’s surveillance power. The Times ran an excellent piece yesterday on the likely consequences of this foolishness.

Some civil rights advocates said they suspected that the administration made the language of the bill intentionally vague to allow it even broader discretion over wiretapping decisions. Whether intentional or not, the end result — according to top Democratic aides and other experts on national security law — is that the legislation may grant the government the right to collect a range of information on American citizens inside the United States without warrants, as long as the administration asserts that the spying concerns the monitoring of a person believed to be overseas.

In effect, they say, the legislation significantly relaxes the restrictions on how the government can conduct spying operations aimed at foreigners at the same time that it allows authorities to sweep up information about Americans.

So why did the Democratic leadership roll over on a law that is both nebulous and rife with potential abuse?

Though many Democratic leaders opposed the final version of the legislation, they did not work forcefully to block its passage, largely out of fear that they would be criticized by President Bush and Republican leaders during the August recess as being soft on terrorism.

Got that? They were scared by George Bush’s mighty 28% approval ratings and thus capitulated (once again). Jesus Christ guys – you are not on the same team so quit acting like it. What the fuck did we elect you for anyway? What is particularly galling about this episode is that the Administration will not even agree to follow these restrictions.

Yet Bush administration officials have already signaled that, in their view, the president retains his constitutional authority to do whatever it takes to protect the country, regardless of any action Congress takes. At a tense meeting last week with lawyers from a range of private groups active in the wiretapping issue, senior Justice Department officials refused to commit the administration to adhering to the limits laid out in the new legislation and left open the possibility that the president could once again use what they have said in other instances is his constitutional authority to act outside the regulations set by Congress.

Basically, the White House is saying it will do whatever it wants when it wants and Congress can suck it. So other than making the Democrats look like a bunch of spineless pansies (once again), the whole exercise was pointless. Well played ladies and gentlemen – well played indeed.

So to sum up: we have a President that believes spies should have all of the authority and discretion of Jack Bauer in crisis mode and a compliant Congress unwilling to reign in these authoritarian impulses, resulting in the further shredding on our Constitutional protections under the chimera that this surrender of rights will make us safer. That is fan-fucking-tastic. We might as well rewrite the Fourth to say:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. That is unless the President wants to – then all bets are off.