Law Students Against Expanding Executive

Dear Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned, are law students writing to voice our alarm at the Bush Administrations misrepresentations of the law in its attempt to justify blatant violations of civil liberties and further expansion of the Executive branch. The NSA program violates the separation of powers, specific criminal prohibitions, and threatens our fundamental Fourth Amendment rights. Even as law students we can see that the Administrations claim of limitless Executive power, trumping all established safeguards, is without legal precedent or legitimacy.

Given the Administrations disdain for meaningful Congressional overview and its willingness to engage in secret, illegal activitiesas the Attorney General has testified, there are still aspects of the program that remain unknown and unaccounted forwe are not comforted by proposals from members of Congress and the White House to legislate exceptions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or to otherwise legitimate unprecedented governmental intrusion into our private conversations. No cosmetic legislation can manufacture political legitimacy for the severe curtailment of basic civil rights domestically just as legislative inaction cannot excuse the continued abuse of human rights abroad.

The spying program must be viewed in the context of an Administration which continues to view itself as above the law and which cannot and should not be relied upon to police itself. In five years we have seen the Administrations legal advisors attempt to justify domestic spying, the concealment of public documents, detention without charge, extraordinary rendition and tortureall in the context of a war without end. These morally reprehensible policies have violated the rights of innocent citizens and foreigners alike and damaged the credibility of the United States. Perversely, these policies have injured our national security as resources are poured into ill-defined and ineffective surveillance. And it doesnt take a law degree to see that the Administrations manipulation and evasion of the law not only threatens our safety but undermines the integrity of our democracy itself.

This is not a partisan issue and the choice between freedom and security is a false one. Indeed, the American Bar Association has already joined some of the nations most respected law scholars, both liberal and conservative, in calling on the President to respect the Constitutions separation of powers. Patriotism does not mean blind obedience in the face of consistent violations of fundamental American laws and values, and if we do not counter a campaign of fear and lies, we will have more to fear than foreign enemies.

It is for these reasons that we call on law students, lawyers, and all citizens to reject the specious and dangerous claims of the Administration and stand up for Americas laws and ideals. We call on the President to respect Congress and the limits placed on the Executive branch by the Constitution. We call on Congress to oppose any further domestic surveillance that does not comply with FISA as currently constituted, and to reject incomplete compromises that do not respect Americans fundamental rights to privacy and free expression. Additionally, we call on Congress to take responsibility for national policies and security, to address past wrongdoing and to oppose all future efforts by the Administration to further undermine American values and the rule of law.