Cheney: Wiretap Ruling Will Be Reversed

Does Torquemada Cheney know something we don't? The Senior Prince of Darkness weighs in again on that pesky court ruling upholding constitutional law:

Vice President Dick Cheney predicted Monday that a recent federal court ruling finding a warrantless surveillance program unconstitutional will be overturned on appeal..."It's hard to think of any category of information that would be more important to the safety and security of the United States...The recent ruling by a federal judge ordering an end to this program is just dead wrong. We are confident it will be reversed on appeal.

And in a stunning application of the Bush cabal's non-reality-based logic, the V.P. offered this gem on the connection/non-connection between Iraq and 9/11:

"I know some have suggested that by liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein we simply stirred up a hornet's nest. They overlook a fundamental fact. We were not in Iraq on Sept. 11, 2001, and the terrorists hit us anyway."

Right. We were not in the Maldive Islands on Sept. 11, 2001 either--and the terrorists hit us anyway...too. Um...yeah.

As for his dismissal of the NSA ruling? Cheney's confidence in a reversal of Judge Anna Taylor Digg's smack-down of the Imperial Presidency Initiative may stem from the make-up of the bench slated to hear the appeal---the appelate court for the 6th Circuit.

Bush II has appointed six judges to the 6th Circuit, giving it an ostensible Republican majority of 8-6. The chief judge was appointed by Reagan. But despite the court's conservative leanings, some analysts insist the 6th may not necessarily rule in BushCo's favor:

...veterans of cases before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals caution that the court's mixed record in a broad range of rulings makes it difficult to predict how it will view the surveillance the administration says is crucial to stopping terrorists.

"It is not a foregone conclusion that a conservative-dominated court is going to say, 'President Bush did this and we're going to uphold what he wants,'" said Robert A. Sedler, a law professor at Wayne State University. "There are many issues in this case. Conservative judges often have a very strongly libertarian streak."

Let's hope so.