For all the talk about the 4th Amendment, and protecting the Constitution, for me the FISA fight is not primarily about that.  It's about something even more important: the rule of law itself.

NCrissieB has an excellent Diary explaining why the current FISA revisions will do little to damage the 4th Amendment.  Along with providing a useful history of the FISA regime, NCrissieBS compellingly argues that the 4th Amendment was effectively eviscerated by the USA PATRIOT Act, and the the current revisions are therefore of little consequence.  But this does not mean that the fight over FISA is any less important.

If the rule of law is not secure none of our rights are safe, whether they are written in the Constitution, in statutes, or in the common law.  If the law is not upheld, they are all just words on a page.  Upholding the rule of law is, in its own right, more important than nearly everything else.

(Cross posted from Docudharma)

We have come to a place unimagined even by Orwell who got so much right.  

THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER THAT WAS MAILED YESTERDAY TO ABRAHAM FOXMAN AT THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE.

Dear Mr. Foxman:

As Jewish citizens of Connecticut's Fourth District, we consider it inappropriate to select Christopher Shays as recipient of the Torch of Liberty Award. Since 9/11, Shays' Congressional votes reveal a man willing to cede numerous Constitutional liberties afforded Americans in favor of bowing to the Bush Administration's misguided agenda in the Middle East.  In addition to his callous disregard for the rights of law-abiding Americans, Shays also has supported policies in the name of the "War on Terror" that have circumvented the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, specifically his support for the Military Commissions Act. Frankly, we wonder what prompted the ADL to extend this award to Chris Shays.