What good is the Constitution?

I wonder what George Bush was thinking when he swore the Presidential Oath. Obviously his mind was elsewhere because he missed that part about: "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The fact is that the president is breaking the law and is violating the U.S. Constitution by his authorization of warrant-less domestic spying.

The argument that Congress implicitly granted authorization in the War Resolution following 9/11 simply doesn’t hold water. Show me a line where that resolution grants permission to spy on Americans. Show me where it says FISA no longer applies. Can you quote me the text? I didn’t think so. The president is breaking the law.

The sad thing is, our government has the tools in place to conduct a legal form of electronic surveillance. The FISA laws grant the president the authority and flexibility to wiretap suspected terrorists immediately and get a court order up to three days later. But this president has decided that he is above the law; that the Constitution does not apply to him.

I applaud the members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, who have challenged this assertion by the administration. Our government was founded with principles of checks and balances. If Congress doesn’t hold the president accountable, they are telling us that the president is above the law. They are telling us that Congress itself is irrelevant because they no longer have any power to counteract the president.

Americans must demand that Congress hold this administration accountable for their violation of our Constitution. Otherwise, what good is it?