The All-Powerful Need No More Power

Robert Levy of the Cato Institute had a good comment about the warrantless eavesdropping the Bush administration is engaging in. George II says the power to spy on Americans without warrants is contained in both his constitutional commander-in-chief authority and the post-9/11 congressional authorization to use force against terrorists. Levy comments:

That pernicious rationale, carried to its logical extreme, renders the PATRIOT Act unnecessary and trumps any dispute over its reauthorization. Indeed, such a policy makes a mockery of the principle of separation of powers.