Introducing Senator Ida Know.

One of the Repansycan 7 Dwarfs pops up on tv and displays his bona fides as a conservative and a legal expert.

From the transcript of the 12/18/05 episode of Face The Nation:


SCHIEFFER: The Secretary of State said this morning that the president has statutory and constitutional authorization to do what he did. So I'll start with Senator Graham.

Does he have that authority, Senator?

Senator LINDSEY GRAHAM (Republican, South Carolina; Armed Services Committee):

If he has the authority to go around the FISA court, which is a court to accommodate the law of the war of terror, the FISA Act was--created a court set up by the chief justice of the United States to allow a rapid response to requests for surveillance activity in the war on terror. I don't know of any legal basis to go around that. There may be some, but I'm not aware of it. And here's the concern I have. We can't become an outcome-based democracy. Even in a time of war, you have to follow the process, because that's what a democracy is all about: a process.

SCHIEFFER: Well, you're saying he broke the law.

Sen. GRAHAM: I don't know. I don't know what legal basis or statute they're referring to. What statute would give the authority of the president to collaborate with a handful of congressmen and senators not to get a
warrant? What executive order or constitutional provision would give the authority of the president to avoid the warrant requirement? There may be some. I just don't know of it. But if there is not any, that's a problem.

SCHIEFFER: And you are a lawyer.

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