Bush Nullified 4th Amendment for 7 Years
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Bob FertikWant to meet our members? Click 'Join' above!
Today President Obama released several crucial memos from Bush's Office of Legal Counsel. And these memos make clear that from 10/23/01 to 10/6/08 - 7 full years - George Bush presumed the 4th Amendment as we know it did not exist. From Wikipedia, as "amended" by Bush:
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. It was ratified as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, in the American Revolution.
The amendment specifically requires search and arrest warrants be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.Search and arrest should be limited in scope according to specific information supplied to the issuing court, usually by a law enforcement officer, who has sworn by it.
The memo of 10/6/08 by Steven Bradbury described the 10/23/01 memo by John Yoo, which created a search-and-seizure loophole big enough to fly Darth Vader's Death Star through:
This memorandum concludes in part V, pages 25-34, that the Fourth Amendment would not apply to domestic military operations designed to prevent and deter further terrorist attacks. This does not reflect the current views of this Office....
Marcy Wheeler explains why Bush's AG, Michael Mukasey, kept the Bradbury memo hidden:
Mukasey knew well of a domestic military operation--DOD's NSA wiretapping Americans domestically--that was ongoing at the time. And which, until the passage of the FISA Amendment Act, may well have been relying on Yoo's October 2001 memo for legal cover.
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Suspension of 4th amendment--transparency
I am tickled pink that the Bush admin. memos showing its suspension of 4th amendment were released. So much so that I submitted the following comments on the DOJ website:
Dear Dept of Justice,
Thank you so much for the release of the memos addressing the Bush administration's suspension of the 4th Amendment. There are many of us out here in the general public who can see that the former administration's behavior evidenced that this documentation/policy had existed and feel that there was no valid reason for the highest executive department officials in the land to subvert and suspend the US constitution --but the former administration was very secretive/deceptive and covered their tracks. The Bush administration certainly did not make any attempt to conduct a transparent government, as President Obama's administration has been attempting to do. This revelation of evidence is extremely refreshing to me and I feel at least some small measure of the weight of the last 8 oppressive years lifted!
It is my understanding that the so-called problem with the missing Bush administration e-mails is bogus and that it is indeed possible to recover them. I hope that this Department of Justice will obtain ALL e-mails--they belong to the American people--who have a right to know what was done by their elected officials. If the former administration has no culpability, GREAT. But if e-mails are found that show legal violations, it is my opinion that they should be turned over to a special prosecutor appointed to operate free of political bias/pressure in an attempt to get at truth and see that justice is done. My personal hope is that enough has been revealed so far to investigate, but I certainly am no an attorney and do not know what it takes to craft a fruitful investigation/prosecution. Please make sure before you act that evidence is solid (with multiple violations evidenced), backed up massively, and repetitive.
Please convey my appreciation to Attorney General Holder and request for me that he lead the DOJ to continue more of this sort of transparency.
lovely!
:)