"As Justice O'Connor underscored recently, even war "is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens." Now that the illegal spying of Americans has become public and the President has acknowledged the four-year-old program, the Bush Administration's lawyers are contending that Congress authorized it. The September 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force did no such thing. Republican Senators know it, and a few have said so publicly. We all know it. The liberties and rights that define us as Americans and the system of checks and balances that serve to preserve them should not be sacrificed to threats of terrorism or to the expanding power of the Government."

from TruthOut.org