George W. Bush--April 20, 2004: "Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires---a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."
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George W. Bush, July 14, 2004: "A couple of things that are very important for you to understand about the Patriot Act. First of all, any action that takes place by law enforcement requires a court order. In other words, the government can't move on wiretaps or roving wiretaps without getting a court order."
by columnist Bob Herbert from yesterday's The New York Times:
For a president---any president---to O.K. eavesdropping on U.S. citizens on American soil without a warrant is an abomination. First, it's illegal---and for very good reasons. Spying on the populace is a giant step toward totalitarianism. In the worst case scenario, it's the nightmare of Soviet-style surveillance.
Related to that is the all-important matter of the separation of powers, which is the absolutely crucial cornerstone of our form of government---our bulwark against tyranny. ... Get rid of the checks and balances and you've gotten rid of the United States as we've known it.
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