One of the problems with Bush’s wiretapping that isn’t discussed in the
public forum much is how he notified Congress of the program. There are clear
laws that require the President to seek the advice and consent of Congress and
now it appears he even broke those laws:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 – A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional
Research Service concludes that the Bush administration’s limited briefings
for Congress on the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping
without warrants are “inconsistent with the law.”

The analysis was requested by Representative Jane Harman, the ranking
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who said in a Jan. 4 letter to
President Bush that she believed the briefings should be open to all the
members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

Instead, the briefings have been limited to the Republican and Democratic
leaders of the House and Senate and of the Intelligence Committees, the
so-called Gang of Eight.

Article continues

here.

So even if there is some weird loop hole of a law that is hidden way in the
books that gives Bush this authority, he still is violating the law by not
properly informing Congress of his actions. This is just further proof that Bush
ignores the checks and balances our forefathers fought to include in our
government.

Tomorrow, the House Democrats will hold an unofficial hearing into the
wiretappings. They have been forced to do this because the chairmen of the House
Judiciary committee, Jim Sensenbrenner, has ignored requests to hold official
hearings. On the Senate side of things, Arlen Specter has scheduled hearings to
start on February 6.