Quick! Bush has only two years left

To destroy our legal system!

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says federal judges are unqualified to make rulings affecting national security policy, ramping up his criticism of how they handle terrorism cases.

In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday, Gonzales says judges generally should defer to the will of the president and Congress when deciding national security cases. He also raps jurists who “apply an activist philosophy that stretches the law to suit policy preferences.”"

Later Gonzales declared his warrantless wiretapping was now legal because it's being overseen by one FISA judge. "Happy now?" demanded Abu Gonzales as he checked off yet another item on the list....

Arlen Specter sold out the Senate in its ability to choose U.S. Attorneys.

"Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) confirmed that as Judiciary Committee chairman last year he made a last-minute change to a bill that expanded the administration's power to install U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval.

Seizing upon the new authority granted by Congress last March, the White House has pushed out several U.S. Attorneys, and begun to replace them without the Senate's consent.

"I can confirm for you that yes, it was a Specter provision," a spokesperson for the senator wrote to me in an email earlier today, responding to repeated inquiries. Earlier we reported that Specter had been fingered for the last-minute change, made in a select Republicans-only meeting after the House and Senate had voted on earlier version."


Update:

Democratic Daily has more on the Bush shift to FISA:

"Did BushCo bow under the pressure of the new Democratic Congress on his domestic wiretapping program? Tony Snow sounded a tad but defensive when he insisted to reporters that “the move was neither politically motivated, in response to any criticism or tied to any court action.”"

Patrick Leahy beats up Gonzales about torture.