They Really Checked It Was Legal
From a Time article in this week’s edition:
…Because the NSA program was so sensitive, Administration officials tell TIME, the “lawyers’ group,” an organization of fewer than half a dozen government attorneys the National Security Council convenes to review top-secret intelligence programs, was bypassed. Instead, the legal vetting was given to Alberto Gonzales, then White House counsel.
So, they didn’t run it by the special court that is staffed with a dozen judges who have been cleared to hear top secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act cases, nor their own National Security Council’s team of Justice Department lawyers. Alberto Gonzales was the only opinion they had on the legality of this program.
The only thing that made this program “so sensitive” was the fact that it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
