NSA could lead to impeachment? (audio)

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 9:05 AM on August 21, 2006.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, lead counsel in a different challenge to NSA wiretapping, included a different though obvious angle the recent ruling on Bush's wiretapping program: it's a violation of federal law [for audio you may have to click on the "permalink" button at the bottom of this post...]:

"if this is upheld is there is a strong argument that the president committed a federal crime not once but maybe over thirty times..."

If the administration's allowed to just say: Oh, now that it's deemed illegal, I'll stop, we could all do that, no? Of course, they aren't even doing this. They're appealing further, hoping to take it to the friendly confines of the Supreme Court, but it's a worthwhile question to ask... especially given the possibility that one or both houses of Congress may change hands...

My favorite pundit argument is the one contending that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit aren't necessarily having their rights violated by being tapped. Of course, we don't know, and we can't, because it's SECRET WIRETAPPING. In the audio clip here, Turley has just addressed this question, noting that the judge chose to focus on the Constitutionality of the program ("tak[ing] the White House out to the shed on almost every point") rather than simply whether or not the plaintiffs were or weren't the focus of illegal wiretapping. (On the Media)

Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.