Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Investigating Domestic Spying
by georgia10

Eric Lichtblau, who has covered the NSA domestic spying story for the New York Times, reminds us today that while a U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor declared the program to be unconstitutional earlier this year, a rubber-stamp Congress has failed to take any action to halt or properly investigate the program. Come January, things are going to change:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who will take over as House speaker in January, favors an investigation to determine how the program actually operated and what its legal framework is under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, a senior aide to Pelosi said.

... Lichtblau writes that Democrats are of "mixed minds" about how to proceed. It's important to note that the dispute isn't necessarily on the legality of the program--indeed, most Democrats, or at least the most prominent ones, have expressed their belief that the program violates the law. The question is one of strategy, of how to proceed from a PR point of view. Should Democrats wait until the ruling on the program is upheld, thus bolstering their argument that the program is indeed unconstitutional? Or should they rely on their own investigation and legal analysis? I think the question of strategy is one that doesn't need to be resolved right away.... However diverse the paths of accountability may be, they all will eventually lead to one action: forcing our government to finally follow the law.