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Bush Admin Agrees To Conditional NSA Judicial Review

HeadlineJul 14, 2006

The Bush administration has agreed to allow a court review of its domestic eavesdropping program. But the review will not be unconditional. Senate Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter says Bush has approved wording for a bill that would allow the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — known as FISA — to conduct only a one-time review — not ongoing oversight. The court would be held in secret and its ruling possibly kept under wraps. An administration official told the Associated Press the White House agreed to the one-time review so long as the Senate makes it voluntary and not a requirement. The Washington Post is also reporting the deal would repeal a clause of the original FISA law that made it the exclusive statute governing such intelligence programs. Revoking the clause would appear to make the warrantless eavesdropping no longer illegal. The deal was immediately criticized. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: “[President Bush is] saying, if you do every single thing I tell you to do, I’ll do what I should have done anyway,” Leahy said.

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