Well, actually, they ignored it. George W. Bush’s solemn pledge at his two inaugurations as President that he would “defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States” were empty words.
The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants. [Huffington Post]
“Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure, for instance, did not apply in the United States as long as the president was combating terrorism, the Justice Department said in an Oct. 23, 2001, memo.”
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."
The memos reflected a belief within the Bush administration that the president had broad powers that could not be checked by Congress or the courts. That stance, in one form or another, became the foundation for many policies: holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without warrants, using tough new CIA interrogation tactics and locking U.S. citizens in military brigs without charges.
In summary Bush was positioned as a dictator empowered to govern without Constitutional restriction. Like Nixon, some of the tapes constituting evidence useful in a prosecution was destroyed.
The saddest part of this episode is that the American people elected the despot twice, happily endorsing the acts of casting aside the Constitution. Makes one wonder if the American people have sense enough to protect their own rights and liberties.
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