Mike Levin: “more than 50 years ago, Justice Robert Jackson said: With all its defects, delays and inconveniences, men have…”

“more than 50 years ago, Justice Robert Jackson said: With all its defects, delays and inconveniences, men have discovered no technique for long preserving free government except that the Executive be under the law, and that the law be made by parliamentary deliberations. I am deeply troubled by recent revelations that the President of the United States has apparently personally authorized spying on the private phone conversations of Americans without court approval, as is required by law. The President's decision to ignore the law Congress wrote and bypass the special court we created raises profound concerns that deserve our immediate attention. Yesterday, I joined several of my colleagues in requesting a joint inquiry into the President's actions by the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. Checks and balances are the bedrock of our system of government. In 1978, when Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to permit the Government to seek court orders to tap the phones of people in the United States, Congress put in the law a check--the FISA Court-- on the executive branch's authority. Since 1979 the FISA Court has approved nearly 19,000 applications for FISA wiretaps. The Court has rejected only a handful. Last year, at a speech in Buffalo, NY, the President explicitly cited the need for a court order as a reason why Americans should have confidence that their civil liberties are being protected.…”