Constitution A? or Constitution B?

November 27th, 2006 Legal, Opinion

CNN (via AP) reports that the Justice Department will initiate an internal investigation into – the Justice Department’s - “handling” of information gathered in the government’s domestic spying program.

“We expect that this review will assist Justice Department personnel in ensuring that the department’s activities comply with the legal requirements that govern the operation of the program.”

This comes after the Justice Department rejected an earlier request by Democrats to review the “secret program”. Note that this new “internal” (judging their own cause) investigation follows the Democratic victory of the recent mid terms.

The article further notes that while many believe that this NSA domestic spying program violates the Constitution (including this blogger), any Congressional oversight of the “powers invested” in the Executive would violate the constitutional separation of powers. (I love this argument!)
Now, on the face of it - what really is the point of all this? IS this really for public consumption? Are we really that stupid? I guess. My suspicion though is that the recent District Court decision is heading to SCOTUS, and we want to line up a few ducks here. I am willing to bet (though this may be fatally illegal) the outcome of that argument.