Letter: Corruption of power is the real danger

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 | 8:45 a.m.

As regards the eavesdropping story:

First, it is a little late for the Justice Department to investigate a leak it knew about more than a year ago, a fact obvious because The New York Times had the story that long and held it. Such is the pity, first because we depend on freedom of the press (First Amendment) to protect us, the people, against the inevitable tendency of our leaders to overleap their constitutional bounds.

Second, the failure to utilize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) violates the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against "unreasonable searches" requiring that warrants can be obtained only with the presentment to a court of "probable cause," although in the FISA there is already unfortunate slippage with the ability to tap first and seek a warrant later.

The key issue with the eavesdropping story is the danger of the corruption of power, even when cut thin; it undermines our claim to be a government of laws, not men, a government under the Constitution. And this from an administration that demands the appointment to the Supreme Court and other courts of judges who will endorse the original intent of the Framers.

Stuart Weiss

Las Vegas