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| Home Front: Politix |
| Resigned FISA Judge a Committed Clintonista |
| 2005-12-21 |
| The press is breathlessly reporting that U.S. District Judge James Robertson has resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - "apparently" in a fit of conscience over news that President Bush was using the National Security Agency to monitor the telephone conversations of terrorists. If the reports are correct, Judge Robertson's conscience has evolved considerably since the days when he was dismissing one criminal case after another against cronies of Bill Clinton - the man who appointed him to the bench in 1994. Old Arkansas media hand Paul Greenberg has long had Robertson's number. In a 1999 column for Jewish World Review, Greenberg described the honorable judge "as one of the more prejudiced Clintonoids on the bench." As Accuracy in Media noted in 2000, Judge Roberston's conscience wasn't particularly troubled by the crimes committed by one-time Clinton Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Webb Hubbell. In two cases involving Hubbell, AIM noted, "Judge James Robertson threw out a tax charge and another for lying to federal investigators. Appellate courts overruled in both cases, and Hubbell then plead guilty to felonies in each case." Judge Robertson's conscience also seemed to go AWOL when it came to the case of Archie Schaffer, an executive with Tyson Chicken - a company that had showered Mr. Clinton with campaign contributions and helped steer Mrs. Clinton to her commodities market killing. Critics said Judge Robertson was merely returning the favor on behalf of the man who appointed him, when - as CNN reported in 1998, he "threw out the jury conviction of Tyson Foods executive Archie Schaffer for providing gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy." Robertson had "granted a motion by Schaffer to overturn the verdict which found him guilty of giving Espy tickets to President Bill Clinton's first inaugural dinner and gifts at a birthday party for the firm's chief executive, Don Tyson." In the context of his past performance on the bench, Judge Robertson's media fans will surely understand why some of us aren't buying their claims that he stormed off the FISA court in a fit of outrage over perceived law breaking. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 Bill Kristol context: ...That is why the president uniquely swears an oath--prescribed in the Constitution--to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Implicit in that oath is the Founders' recognition that, no matter how much we might wish it to be case, Congress cannot legislate for every contingency, and judges cannot supervise many national security decisions. This will be especially true in times of war. This is not an argument for an unfettered executive prerogative. Under our system of separated powers, Congress has the right and the ability to judge whether President Bush has in fact used his executive discretion soundly, and to hold him responsible if he hasn't. But to engage in demagogic rhetoric about "imperial" presidents and "monarchic" pretensions, with no evidence that the president has abused his discretion, is foolish and irresponsible. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-12-21 10:40 |
| #6 a little more..cBS The Post said Robertson, without providing an explanation, stepped down from the FISA court in a letter late Monday to Chief Justice John Roberts. He did not resign his parallel position as a federal district judge. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said early Wednesday she had no information to offer on the matter. Robertson was appointed a federal judge by President Clinton in 1994. Chief Justice William Rehnquist later appointed Robertson to the FISA court as well. Robertson has been critical of the Bush administration's treatment of detainees at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, most memorably in a decision that sidetracked the president's system of military tribunals to put some detainees on trial. Some Republicans have joined a chorus of Democrats who say Congress must investigate whether the president was within the law to allow the super-secret National Security Agency to eavesdrop, reports CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/21/politics/main1150626.shtml |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-12-21 10:23 |
| #5 The press is breathlessly reporting that U.S. District Judge James Robertson has resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - "apparently" in a fit of conscience over news that President Bush was using the National Security Agency to monitor the telephone conversations of terrorists. According to a blurb in the local paper, no explantion was given when the resignation was submitted. The idea that this resignation was/is a protest is coming from "two sources". |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-12-21 10:13 |
| #4 If the reports are correct, Judge Robertson's conscience has evolved considerably since the days when he was dismissing one criminal case after another against cronies of Bill Clinton - the man who appointed him to the bench in 1994. The Dimmirat takeover attempt is under way. the DNC, Corrupt judges, NYSlimes, MSM et all are pulling out the stops for impeachment. What they could't win by ballot they're going to to try and steal by a Coup D'etat. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-12-21 10:11 |
| #3 If he was hearing cases in the FISA, wouldn't he have been aware of the NSA's monitoring long before the story broke? |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2005-12-21 10:11 |
| #2 "has resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - "apparently" in a fit of conscience over news" ...or maybe a guilty conscience??? random thoughts and such.. just thinking out loud here... the leak had to come from somewhere... |
| Posted by: TomAnon 2005-12-21 10:09 |
| #1 It warms my heart to see Republicans (or at least fair press) fighting back against the constant and unending democrat sally of lies. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-12-21 10:02 |