Bush: It's 'Naive' to Believe the President Must Follow the Law

In Court Decisions

by TChris

Our ever-defiant president intends to continue wielding unbounded and unchecked executive power, regardless of what a court tells him about the law, and if you don't like it, you're naive.

"I would say that those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live," Mr. Bush said in a question-answer session at Camp David, Md.

"This decision" refers to Judge Taylor's declaration that the NSA wiretapping program is unconstititutional (discussed here and here at TalkLeft). "Those who herald the decision" understand the Constitution and the obligation of the president to obey the law. It's really pretty simple.

The president resorted to his tired argument, "if Al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know why they're calling." So do we. That's why we want the president to hasten to a FISA court and get a warrant that will help him intercept suspicious calls. His stubborn insistence that he don't need no stinkin' warrant has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with an unprecedented assertion of executive domination over the other -- supposedly coequal -- branches of government.