A Stitch in Haste

Let the record reflect that I have been touting the OpenCRS Project for quite some time. The goal of the project is to make available to the public the special reports that the Congressional Research Service prepares for Members of Congress.

Well, one particular CRS report has been getting quite a bit of publicity recently, and with good cause:

The Congressional Research Service's report rebuts the central assertions made recently by Bush and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales about the president's authority to order secret intercepts of telephone and e-mail exchanges between people inside the United States and their contacts abroad.
...
The 44-page report said that Bush probably cannot claim the broad presidential powers he has relied upon as authority to order the secret monitoring of calls made by U.S. citizens since the fall of 2001.

The full title of the report is "Presidential Authority to Conduct Warrantless Electronic Surveillance to Gather Foreign Intelligence Information," dated 5 January 2006. Don't be intimidated by the 44-page length of the report -- it's mostly footnotes.

Previous CRS Recommendations:
Foreign Holdings of Public Debt
China's Internet Censorship
Summary of Rumsfeld v. FAIR