This is complicated, so I imagine I’ll probably get some of it wrong in my initial twelve or thirteen takes on it. As many of you know, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, has reached an agreement with the Bush Administration over legislation governing the ongoing NSA warrantless wiretapping program. Reading what is available of the proposed legislation (here and here) and the analysis, I don’t think there can be much question that Glenn Greenwald has it right when he writes that it will “render legal the currently illegal warrantless eavesdropping program.” There seems to be some question as to whether or not the legislation does so retroactively. The legislation guarantees that a complete victory is the administration’s worst case scenario. It certainly seems safe to say that the executive branch will get just as many chances as it needs, without any penalty for ever losing in court. From the Washington Post.

The legislation would allow the Justice Department unlimited attempts to revise the program to meet the court’s approval and would allow it to appeal adverse court rulings. It would also give the NSA in emergency situations a week rather than the current 72 hours to eavesdrop on a domestic target without requesting a warrant, and it would allow the government to send to the FISA court all lawsuits challenging the program’s legality. Some suits, filed by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are already pending in various federal courts.

Reading that, I couldn’t get the phrase “heads I win, tails you lose” out of my head. They can’t ever lose because they can just keep going and going and going again, until they get a favorable ruling. Specter offers the administration a bloodless victory in what should have been a brutal fight to protect the fundamental rights of every American citizen. Should have been is funny here, because not a bit of this ever should have been, but whatever.

Specter rarely fails to do exactly what a person in his position ought never do. I’ve watched in horror, repeatedly, as otherwise sane Pennsylvanians vote for Specter because he coos gently and effectively to people of reason, while engaging in all manner of unreasonable behavior. I’ve listened and read in horror, very recently, while otherwise sane people propose that Specter will do more than merely speak the noble language of oversight. Noble words and the scent of decay will get you the scent of decay and, if you’re really lucky, a hunk of rotten meat.

Much more to come – I hope. Specter’s bill needs to be killed. We’re not in a good way right now and any further congressional blessing of the executive’s unending desire to usurp our basic rights is, in the language of Rumsfeld, not helpful. It’s so much worse than that. I’m not sure how one gets one of those call your Senator and urge him or her to kill a bill movements going, but if I knew, I’d be all over it on this one. Maybe some of you know how to do it. If so, this might not be a bad time to show off your skills.