In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the candidates for attorney general, who offer to prosecute the offenders. These are their stories:
March, 23rd. New York City - Today Sean Patrick Maloney, former senior Clinton White House official and investigative attorney running for the Democratic nomination for New York Attorney General, revealed a fresh idea to "legalize" the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program using a complaint that can be filed in federal court.
The complaint would seek a federal court order requiring the Bush Administration to comply with the law. The plan does not stop, compromise or hamper ongoing operations but instead compels the Bush Administration to appear in federal court, in secret session, to show cause for wiretapping any citizens of New York.
I've
been wondering when a state prosecutor would try something like this. And while Maloney would presumably have to wait until he was installed in office to make it happen, it's something to start with.
Now, if you're like me, you're wondering whether there's precedent for state attorneys general to act against federal actors who break state law and are acting outside of congressional authority.
There is recent case law and precedent for state attorneys general to act against federal actors who break state law and are acting outside of congressional authority. The Oregon Attorney General successfully sued then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, stopping him from undermining that state's assisted suicide law (analogous to New York's wiretapping law) without Congressional authorization to do so (as with the NSA's actions here).
Of course, if you were really like me, you probably wouldn't have used the words act, actors and acting in the same sentence like that. But let's put all that aside for more important matters. Like, what's on TV?
The Maloney campaign is supporting this idea with the first paid television ads of the campaign for Attorney General. Entitled "Good Question" the 30-second spot, which airs statewide starting today, makes the charge that the President is outside his authority in using warrantless wiretaps and is violating New York state law. In the ad, Sean Patrick Maloney asks, "The founding fathers didn't trust George Washington with unlimited power, so why would we trust George Bush?"
Download good_question_tv.mov
Let's all take a moment to examine the proposed complaint (pdf) and see what there is to see, shall we?
Questions? Maloney's got a FAQ (also a pdf) document, though given how new the proposed complaint is, I don't know how F these Q have been A.
My only question: Will Maloney be pissed if we can get another AG to file something like this before he gets a chance to do it himself? His blog says no. Hope that's true, because I'm running with it.
Kudos to Mr. Maloney, and thanks to Marissa McNee for the tip!