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Hallelujah! Leahy, Specter to See Surveillance Docs
After over a year of demands, four months of subpoenas and an immeasurable amount of acrimony and mutual distrust, the White House has finally agreed to let Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- and possibly even the whole Senate Judiciary Committee -- review the legal basis for the warrantless surveillance program. Apparently politics can compel what subpoenas can't. Congressional Quarterly:
The White House has offered leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee access to legal documents related to the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program, senators said Thursday.But Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said while the White House had offered the documents to both him and the panel's ranking Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, he was pushing for the entire committee to receive access to the documents.
The Bush administration is asking Congress to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for their alleged role in the NSA program.
A Judiciary Committee aide had said the panel was holding off on a markup of legislation rewriting the rules for electronic surveillance until it received access to those documents, which pertain to the legal foundation of the NSA program.
Two Senators on the judiciary committee who saw the documents via their seats on the intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), ultimately voted for retroactive telecom immunity. Could Specter and Leahy possibly be next? Stranger things have happened -- like, for instance, the disclosure of these documents to the judiciary committee leaders. The committee will hold a hearing on the surveillance legislation Wednesday.
Comments (20)
apishapa wrote on October 25, 2007 3:44 PM:Well, that's great. I wonder if they will promise immunity in exchange for seeing what crimes they are granting immunity from. What a mess, we'll tell you how we violated American citizen's rights if you promise to say it's okay.
v. popvli wrote on October 25, 2007 3:47 PM:Did they get "millions opf pages" of documents like the SIC did, and will they manage to read them all and assure us it's all okay, before morning like the Intelligence Committee did?
better late than never.
soon we'll be hearing dana perino spout about how cooperative and helpful the white house has been to leahy's and specter's requests. they only had to subpoena the documents, threaten contempt, and wait over a year.
Fiddler wrote on October 25, 2007 3:54 PM:The fact that Feinstein voted for it does not sway me in the least. Diane Feinstein has been my Senator for some time now, and she is a complete tool. She is more involved in political power games than she is in anything else, and she'll kiss whatever ass is necessary to bolster her influence.
Crust wrote on October 25, 2007 4:02 PM:"A Judiciary Committee aide had said the panel was holding off on a markup of legislation rewriting the rules for electronic surveillance until it received access to those documents"
Note the aide didn't say they were holding off until they reviewed the documents. Nope. Until they received the (voluminous) documents. Sounds like some folks agreed to immunity in advance in return for getting some docs. That's also consistent with the Hoyer quote. Bad. Very bad.
dhs wrote on October 25, 2007 4:05 PM:They will get kool aid, at best.
I see no reason to revise FISA, especially under the cloudy circumstances we are in. The original FISA legislation is adequate to protect our Constitutional rights while allowing the intelligence agencies to pursue their investigations.
Why is the Democratic leadership so anxious to cave in to the Bush-Republican agenda? It sounds as if some of them are suffering from battered (women's) syndrome.
RadioFreeThought wrote on October 25, 2007 4:11 PM:Hmmm...
Steny Hoyer is using Sen. Specter's stance on telecom immunity to bolster his position. Sen. Specter's position is subject to change with more information. Sen. Specter will now get more information.
Does anyone see an about-face coming, or is the threat of a Republican primary challenge the election after next over for Arlen?
Curt Weldon and Rick Santorum are free these days...
TheraP wrote on October 25, 2007 4:13 PM:Negotiating with bushco is like negotiating with hostage takers. You don't give them what they want - but you insist they turn over the goods! (hostages in one case; evidence in the other)
No retroactive immunity!
Tom In Maine wrote on October 25, 2007 4:24 PM:You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this latest move by the White House.
It's called Bait and Switch with Leahy and Specter as the targets of this sucker play.
Nothing more, nothing less!
Marusevich wrote on October 25, 2007 4:45 PM:Somebody please explain this to me: Why is there any justification for immunity if (as we now know) the telecoms volunteered information BEFORE 9/11?
biggerbox wrote on October 25, 2007 4:53 PM:I'm sure that once Senators Leahy and Specter are shown the embarrassing material the wiretaps and other administration surveillance have accumulated about them, they will decide it's important to vote for immunity, or as I prefer to call it, amnesty. It's pretty clear laws have been violated.
Amnesty for telecomms, not for immigrants, that's the GOP stand.
Scud wrote on October 25, 2007 5:09 PM:Specter and Leahy cave in 3...2...1
judyinnm wrote on October 25, 2007 5:30 PM:biggerbox - that is exactly the only explanation that makes sense as to why the Democrats cave, every time. And why Hillary & Obama need "further review". Do you suppose Dodd & Feingold are the only ones with nothing to hide?
deben wrote on October 25, 2007 6:07 PM:One White House moron and two Senators is not a quorum. It's a cabal.
Dennis wrote on October 25, 2007 8:59 PM:Keep a watch on it. Leahy will see things for what they really are, as will Specter, but Specter will see another opportunity to stall things and to say they either have not made a case againist the administration or can't make a case against the administration.
Let's admit it, Specter covers Bush's ass every opportunity he gets.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
Mike M. wrote on October 25, 2007 10:24 PM:What could possible be in those docs, even if they were made public to the entire country, that would convince people that the government should have expanded wiretapping capabilities or that the telcos shouldn't be held liables for the laws they broke? This is absolutely ridiculous. If they see those docs and then vote to approve then they are not to be trusted. We cannot take anybody's word for this. The government has lost credibility.
TomJ wrote on October 25, 2007 11:54 PM:Since the Bush administration has had a year to go over the requested documents, I really don't believe that they will be handing over anything that would imperil the imperial presidency.
Anonymous wrote on October 26, 2007 12:33 AM:"Two Senators on the judiciary committee who saw the documents via their seats on the intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), ultimately voted for retroactive telecom immunity"
That's because the "documents" shown to each member of the Intel Committee were transcripts of their own phone calls.
Following reveiw of these transcripts (each member of the committee had a private room in which to peruse the transcripts at their leisure) two statements were issued by each senator:
1. Hooray for retroactive immunity...
2. No one must ever reveal the contents of these sensitive documents...
Helen Rainier wrote on October 26, 2007 1:17 AM:How will we even know if they receive the real documents?
By now, one thing that should be cleared is that the Bushies can't be trusted to be honest and upfront about a damned thing.
Each and every thing they do and say is done with ulterior motives and not of the altruistic type.
ngic wiretap wrote on October 27, 2007 1:39 PM:hopefully the ngic surveillance and computer monitoring done on a few charlottesville whistleblowers will come to light
billjpa wrote on October 29, 2007 8:34 AM:Hallelujah? what the H do you mean? Hallel. my ass. These papers were, as you point out were requested for months if not years! Puleeeze. This is a done deal. the teles will get exactly what they want.