The Law is on Bush's Side

The controversy that wasn't continues to play out in the MSM with various talking heads expressing/feigning shock and outrage at the President's authorization of wiretaps on some international calls and e-mails. Much has been made of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and how some feel that President Bush has violated the act. This is despite the fact that as recently as 2002 the FISA Court of Review said that "the president did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence...We take for granted that the president does have that authority." The issue can not be explained any clearer than that.
Further evidence that the President is well within his rights is the history of executive orders that have made changes to FISA since its inception in 1978.
First ,on May 23 1979, Jimmy Carter issued an executive order which was number 12139 entitled "Exercise of Certain Authority Respecting Electronic Surveillance". Section 1-101 of the order states:
"Pursuant to Section 102(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978(50U.S.C. 1802(a)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order, but only if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section."
The President has made it very clear in his numerous addresses since the story ran in the NYT that the Attorney General has been consulted on every occasion of renewal of the program just as required.
Secondly, on February 13, 1995, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12949 . This order titled Foreign Intelligence Physical Searches states in Section 1:
"Pursuant to section 302(a)(1) of the Act(referring to FISA), the Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order, to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year, if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that section."
These are two recent orders that speak directly to the current situation and show that the President was working completely within legal boundaries. The most delicious part is that the orders were written by Democrats. Oh the irony!