Upon Further Review, I've Decided That the President Has Clearly Violated the Fourth Amendment

I've been thinking a lot about the President's authorization of warrantless "domestic spying," and I think I've reached a verdict.

Earlier this week, Bush defended the program by making two points:

1) The time it takes to obtain a warrant is time that we might not have. From CNN.com:

"We know that a two-minute phone conversation between somebody linked to al Qaeda here and an operative overseas could lead directly to the loss of thousands of lives," Bush said. "To save American lives, we must be able to act fast and to detect these conversations so we can prevent new attacks."

2) That this program is only used to spy on persons with suspected links to al Qaeda and is only used to monitor their conversations with persons in other countries. (I have in the back of my mind, however, the anecdotal but disturbing story of a Massachusettes college student who was accosted by the NSA for inquiring about a library book he needed for a paper. I do not know if this case is related to the "domestic spying program.")

Is cutting the courts out of the process so the president can authorize spying on U.S. citizens saving American lives? Maybe. Two questions need to be answered: Is the FISA court so slow in issuing warrants that the nation is put at risk? I see no indication that FISA was hindering national security, but there's a lot I don't know. On the other hand, are all cases of domestic spying worthy of obtaining a warrant?

Then again, maybe these questions are missing the point. Let us not forget the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution, the fourth amendment of which reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Spying on American citizens without first obtaining a warrant clearly violates the fourth amendment, and no president should get away with blatantly ignoring or dismissing our Constitution. We have a handful of fundamental liberties that, as our nation has affirmed over and again throughout its history, are worth giving our lives for. Freedom from unlawful search and seizure is one of them.

Update: MSNBC's Hardball has assembled a montage of incidents during the 2004 campaign when the President assured voters that wiretaps and similar tools would not be used in the absense of a court-issued warrant. (Video from Crooks and Liars.