Bush launches a bid to justify domestic spying

President Bush yesterday launched a weeklong blitz of election-style campaigning to build support for his domestic spying program, seeking to persuade the country to uphold his power to bypass laws in the interest of national security — a power that many legal scholars say he does not have.
On a legal level, however, Bush’s initiative has deeper implications, analysts said. If the public and the Congress accept Bush’s assertion of power, they would clear the way for an increase in presidential power that could last long after Bush leaves office, the analysts said.
”This power will lie around like a loaded weapon for any future incumbent to use when he wants to override a law,” said Bruce Fein, a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration. ”There will be terrorism forever, so it will become a permanent fixture on our legal landscape.”
Bush launches a bid to justify domestic spying – The Boston Globe

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