>This granting retroactive amnesty in order to provide a legal foundation for the surveillance program is a wee bit different than modifying tax law. And if there is a need to 'provide legal foundation', a reasonable person could assume that the current surveillance program is without legal foundation (outside the guidelines established by FISA).

Any further legislation appears to be irrelevant in lieu of existing CIC authority.

"The allegation of Presidential law-breaking rests solely on the fact that Mr. Bush authorized wiretaps without first getting the approval of the court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. But no Administration then or since has ever conceded that that Act trumped a President's power to make exceptions to FISA if national security required it. FISA established a process by which certain wiretaps in the context of the Cold War could be approved, not a limit on what wiretaps could ever be allowed.
The courts have been explicit on this point, most recently in In Re: Sealed Case, the 2002 opinion by the special panel of appellate judges established to hear FISA appeals. In its per curiam opinion, the court noted that in a previous FISA case (U.S. v. Truong), a federal "court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue [our emphasis], held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." And further that "we take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007703

Sealed Case No. 02-001 http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/fiscr111802.html

>>Unfortunately, retroactive legislation is not a new concept, regardless of political party...
>>http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/HL613.cfm
>>http://www.ftb.ca.gov/businesses/credits/rd/spidell/spidell6.html
>>
>>or country for that matter...
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_legislation
>>
>>>Surprised? And that's coming from the guys who hate the word "amnesty".
>>>
>>>"Have you forgotten doublespeak, Winston?"
>>>
>>>>Retroactively legislate?????
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>No worries. With guys like Specter and DeWine on the case, the GOP can retroactively legislate any and all get out of jail free cards needed for both past and future shennanigans. Its good to be king.
>>>>>
>>>>>After an exchange of letters in June 2006 between Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Vice President Dick Cheney, the committee is considering Specter's bill putting the NSA program under the FISA court and granting retroactive amnesty for warantless surveillance conducted under presidential authority.[3] It is also considering legislation sponsored by Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH), a member of the judiciary and intelligence panels, that would provide a legal foundation for the surveillance program.