Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Judge Resigns over Spying

You've never heard of U.S. District Judge James Robertson? Neither had I. Judge Robertson served as a member of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The Washington Post reports he resigned yesterday:
Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.
Robertson, who was appointed to the federal bench in Washington by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and was later selected by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to serve on the FISA court, declined to comment when reached at his office late yesterday.
Clearly the issue isn't going away:
Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) echoed concerns raised by Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has promised hearings in the new year.
Hagel and Snowe joined Democrats Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) in calling for a joint investigation by the Senate judiciary and intelligence panels into the classified program.

1 Comments:

Blogger jason said...

Tom ,

The most shocking thing to me is how cheaply so many on the right want to give away 200 years of liberty. It is as if they never heard Franklin’s “Those who give up essential liberty for a little safety deserve neither”

Or, if they heard it, they never honestly believed it.

10:09 PM, December 21, 2005  

Post a Comment

<< Home