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December 20, 2005
BIG Story - FISA Judge Resigns In Protest Of Bush Spying
-- by Dave Johnson
From Daily Kos, Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel,
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.Things might be starting to happen.... Word of Robertson's resignation came as two Senate Republicans yesterday joined the call for congressional investigations into the National Security Agency's warrantless interception of telephone calls and e-mails to overseas locations by U.S. citizens suspected of links to terrorist groups. They questioned the legality of the operation and the extent to which the White House kept Congress informed.
Posted by Dave Johnson at December 20, 2005 8:35 PM
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Comments
Bush's spying makes a mockery of the court's imaginary oversight. It's insulting, and if Robertson felt like a puppet and like mere window dressing, he was right. Of course he should have resigned.
Posted by: MJ at December 21, 2005 5:28 AM
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