Boston Globe: Past rulings don't support Bush's use of war powers

[Eugene]

Past rulings don't support Bush's use of war powers

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | December 19, 2005

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief allowed him
to authorize wiretaps on Americans despite a 1978 wiretapping law has little support in past
Supreme Court rulings.

Congress enacted the law requiring investigators to seek judicial warrants before wiretapping
citizens in response to revelations that former President Richard Nixon had used the FBI to spy
on his political enemies.

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"The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th . . . is fully
consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities," Bush said in his weekly radio
address on Saturday.

But past Supreme Court rulings have taken a more limited view of presidential power in wartime.

"The president is taking an unusually expansive view of what the Constitution allows him to do
in disregard of Congress, and he is probably wrong," said Susan Low Bloch, a professor of
constitutional law at Georgetown University. "His claim of power is too extreme."

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Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/12/19/past_rulings_dont_support_bushs_use_of_war_powers
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