Federal Judge: President Is Not Above the Law
Posted by MEC on July 5, 2008
Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the Northern District of California has ruled that the president’s authority as commander in chief does not make him exempt from the law.
Walker, who was appointed by President H.W. Bush, stated the obvious when ruling on a lawsuit by an Oregon charity that has evidence the government used an illegal wiretap against under the secret surveillance program established by Bush after the September 11 attacks.
This ruling is consistent with other rulings that Bush cannot use “I’m a wartime president” as the pretext for ruling by fiat.
Let’s hope it sends a message to Congress: Bush cannot have everything he wants just because he wants it. And that includes retroactive immunity for the telephone companies that helped him break the law.
