White House Flouts NSA Subpoena Deadline, But Will Congress Fight Back?

White House Flouts NSA Subpoena Deadline, But Will
Congress Fight Back? (via eff.org)

Yesterday, the White House once again flouted Congress'
authority and failed to comply with Senate subpoenas
regarding the NSA's illegal domestic spying. In response,
Senator Patrick Leahy threatened contempt proceedings and
stated that the compliance deadline, which was already
delayed twice, would not be pushed back again.

That's certainly welcome news, but Congress can't let this
turn into yet another set of empty threats. Tough talk is
not enough -- after all, Congress has already made numerous
requests for critical information about the spying program
and let the President dodge them again and again. Instead
of forcing his hand, it practically rewarded his
evasiveness by capitulating to the Administration's
outrageous demands and radically expanding domestic spying
powers earlier this month.

Congress cannot allow itself to be pushed around any
longer. It needs to make good on its threats and pry the
truth out of the Administration using all available means,
including by holding it in contempt.

And that must only be a first step towards the ultimate
goal of stopping the President's abuse of power. Truth and
accountability for the warrantless wiretapping of Americans
should have come before any legislative changes were given
even the slightest consideration. Now Congress needs to
undo its mistake, starting with a repeal of the so-called
"Protect America Act," the Administration's FISA
"modernization" power grab.

Take action now and tell Congress to stop the warrantless
wiretapping:
http://action.eff.org/fisa

Read EFF's article from August 7, "Congress Caves on
Warrantless Snooping -- What Happened, and How to Fix It":
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005395.php




here is a direct link to the video http://www.archive.org/details/gov.courts.ca9.2007.08.16