>>No man, even the President of the U.S. and especially NOT our government or its leaders, can operate outside of the law - especially when it comes to protection under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
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>A lovely ideal, I agree.
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>But what if the current laws do indeed fail to meet our national security needs?
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>And say that the US was threatened, a system under attack.
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>If following the law to perfection meant failing to save the system, then no laws will be left.

Are you really buying into those scare tactics? I don't see the system under any outside danger. Nobody tried to invade the States, not even any of the outlying islands. Terrorists have failed to kill in the last ten years even the number of peope who die from medical errors each year. The system is, IMO, more in danger from within, from being gradually turned from a democracy into a "everybody's safe and under control and nobody's free" police state.

>I'd say that breaking a few laws in that case was worth saving our way of life.

Isn't rule of law one of the primary properties of this way of life? If you have an apple pie without apples, is it still an apple pie?