First, the President signed into law on Aug. 5th a bill from Congress containing provisions essentially legalizing for 6 months warrentless wiretapping as conducted by the NSA on orders from the President after 9/11. One would surely conclude that the Congress itself understands that modifications to FISA must be made to provide our intelligence agencies with additional, more powerful tools necessary to stop terrorists, and furthermore that the President, the Justice Department, and the NSA acted earlier in good faith in instituting the TSP even though its legality was clearly in question.

Second, the Constitution is technically silent on the question of whether the Congress has oversight into the dismissal of Federal officials. But if the majority of Congress do believe that the President and the AG improperly fired the federal prosecutors, they can and should appoint a non-partisan special prosecutor to bring the case to a real, non-partisan Grand Jury and thereby avoid highly partisan and occasionally theatrical Congressional hearings. If I'm not mistaken, it was the experience with President Nixon that lead to the independent consul statute in the first place.

So the opinion that impeachment in necessary or warranted, or that it is a "dead letter" is hereby remanded back to the readers for a second, closer look.

The NEW FISA/wiretapping law doesn't exhonorate previous behaviour - and that behaviour is impeachable. Heck pretty much anything Congress is willing to put its political neck on the line for is impeachable. Fein is just venting the opinion of many centrist and left of center citizens - that Bush has violated the US Consitution repeatedly and should be held to account.

But the practical matter of it is that impeachment doesn't matter any more. It isn't going to be voted on before Nov. recess. Which puts it into the election year - and even if it was voted on, the actual investigation would take up most of that year followed by a trial that would at best conclude shortly before the elections.

That is bad politics. And since impeachment is ALL about politics, its not gonna happen

Duck and Cover !!!

OMG the TERRISTS !!!

Save me George !!!

Damn the torpedos and the Constitution too, just tell me I'll be safe.

OMG 911 !!!

FDR said it best...

The only thing we have to fear -- is fear itself.

nym:

congress could have, and surely did, approve the six-month trial of TSP and Other Covert Programs for reasons other than that they agreed with the president. the fact that Pelosi got a stopgap passed could indicate anything. one need not conclude anything, surely.

and congress can't pick an AAG, but it sure can oversee the Department. last clause of article I, section 8.

and "the experience with President Nixon" you're thinking of is the resignation of John Mitchell and Nixon's firing of Archibald Cox, right? the independent counsel statute is there to check the executive -- like when the AG is a crook, and the president fires his successor -- not to impede impeachment proceedings. and an independent counsel can go right ahead with its investigation alongside impeachment. no problem there.

impeachment is long overdue. politics will disrupt the process, but Fein's point, clearly, is that a prima facie case has been made for impeachment by the president himself. as soon as he says, "I authorized the NSA to conduct electronic eavesdropping outside the purview of FISA," that's game over. that admission is enough to convene a grand jury.

and again, whatever the outcome -- no indictments, no impeachment, no resignation -- at a bare minimum we need some questions answered about what has been going on in this country over the past six years. we need to learn the rationale for the blanket executive privilege claims covering former administration officials, the abuse of signing statements, National Security letters, etc.

the executive has claimed legal acreage that Congress hasn't measured yet, much less put in check. impeachment focuses the larger process of shaping the legal terrain. otherwise, Congress has a half-dozen investigations into penny-ante indiscretions.

and for everyone who wants to give the men an invitation to the Hague, stringing him up on FISA is half a loaf. selah.

hh