And claimed he had the “inherent authority” to do so
At the funeral of Corretta Scott King, former President Jimmy Carter made a back-handed attack onPresident Bush’s terrorist surveillance program by comparing the Kennedy Clan’s illegal wire taps on the Martin Luther and Correta King with those on current known foreign terrorist suspects.
Well, why are we not surprised to find out that former President Carter authorized warrantless surveillance for national security purposes when he was President in 1977?
But in 1977, Mr. Carter and his attorney general, Griffin B. Bell, authorized warrantless electronic surveillance used in the conviction of two men for spying on behalf of Vietnam.
The men, Truong Dinh Hung and Ronald Louis Humphrey, challenged their espionage convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which unanimously ruled that the warrantless searches did not violate the men’s rights.
In its opinion, the court said the executive branch has the “inherent authority” to wiretap enemies such as terror plotters and is excused from obtaining warrants when surveillance is “conducted ‘primarily’ for foreign intelligence reasons.”
The position of the Carter administration was that the FISA law permitted exactly the sort of activity that President Carter inapproriately attacked at Mrs. King’s funeral.
Jimmy Carter may not have been the worst President in U.S. history (but he is very close to the bottom of that list). But he has proven that he is the worst person to have ever held that position.
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OTHERS:
- Greg at Rhymes With Right isn’t impressed with former President Carter, either — “He [President Carter] condemned activity that he himself engaged in and defended — and he knew it. That makes him a hypocritical SOB of the first order. Too bad we cannot impeach him retroactively.”
- Ed at Captain’s Quarters uses the H word to describe President Carter, too — It also shows what a complete hypocrite Carter has become in his bitter pursuit to damage George Bush in any way possible.
- Heather at Lady Heather of Suburbia chimes in — “…he’s either now saying he was wrong then, or, President Bush doesn’t have the same powers that he (and President Clinton) had during their presidencies.
- Rob from Three Sources wonders —”Since Democrats are hot lately on the idea of stare decisis, I wonder if the fact that it was ruled “ok” by the 4th Circuit matters.”
- Rob at Say Anything summarizes why Congress doesn’t have a dog in this hunt:
The ruling states warrantless monitoring taking place domestically for the primary purpose of gathering intelligence on foreign threats falls under the inhereht powers of the executive branch.
That is an important word, because “inherent” powers means powers laid out for the chief executive in the Constitution. Any statute passed by Congress - FISA, for instance - cannot trump the President’s inherent, constitutional powers. Congress cannot remove the President’s constitutional power to veto legislation (as laid out in Article I) and they cannot remove his constitutional power to gather foreign intelligence domestically without a warrant.
Linked at Stuck on Stupid, Stop the ACLU, Everyman Chronicles, and Jo’s Cafe
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Dhimmi Carter Hypocrite On Spying
Hat tip: Rhymes With Right
Via Washington Times
Former President Jimmy Carter, who publicly rebuked President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program this week during the funeral of Coretta Scott King and at a campaign event, used similar sur…
Left by Stop The ACLU on February 11th, 2006 at 5:15 pm