Cardin stands with Dodd for rule of law, against telcom immunity
While Senator Chris Dodd is earning well-deserved praise tonight for his resolute stand against the FISA telco immunity bill, Maryland's Senator Ben Cardin was also among the select few who stood with him when the going got tough. Cardin joined Dodd and only eight other Senators in voting against allowing consideration of S.2248, the "Rockefeller/Cheney" FISA Amendment Act to proceed.*

While Dodd, Cardin et al lost that vote, they won the day when Senate Majority leader Harry Reid pulled the bill from the floor in the face of the looming Dodd filibuster. I haven't found any statements by Cardin on the matter yet, although he did sign on to Russ Feingold's letter last week urging Reid to prefer the competing FISA bill reported out by the Judiciary Committee over the one crafted by Jay Rockefeller and the Intelligence Committee. From that letter:

While the structure of Title I of both bills is the same, and both make improvements over the Protect America Act, the reasonable changes to Title I made in the Judiciary Committee ensure that the FISA Court will be able to conduct much-needed oversight of the implementation of these broad new surveillance authorities, and help to better protect the rights of innocent Americans. While we appreciate the hard work that the Intelligence Committee has done on this legislation, the process by which the Judiciary Committee considered, drafted, amended and reported out its bill was an open one, allowing outside experts and the public at large the opportunity to review and comment. With regard to legislation so directly connected to the constitutional rights of Americans, the results of this open process should be accorded great weight, especially in light of the Judiciary Committee’s unique role and expertise in protecting those rights.

We also believe that the Judiciary Committee bill is preferable because it does not provide immunity for telecom companies that allegedly cooperated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. As this is such a controversial issue, we feel it would be appropriate to require the proponents of immunity to make their case on the floor.

Taking principled stands seems to come naturally for Senator Cardin; last month he voted against the confirmation of Attorney General Mukasey, and gave an eloquent speech explaining his decision, saying "we should not even be close to the line of what is torture." His judgment about Mukasey's fitness for office has already been amply confirmed by the Attorney General's efforts to block Congressional investigation of the CIA's destruction of subpoenaed interrogation(/torture) videotapes.

Since I'm always one to accentuate the positive, let me say how great it is to have a Senator like Ben Cardin to contrast with other Maryland Democrats more interested in road building, resume building, slot machines, fundraising, earmarking and logrolling than in living up to their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution, and to simply protect (what's left of) the reputation of the United States. Thank you, Senator Cardin.

Meanwhile, Senator Dodd is now neck and neck with John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich in the all-important "newsrack" presidential endorsement sweepstakes.


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* For the record, the honor roll of those voting against ending debate on S.2248 on Monday were Boxer (D-CA), Brown (D-OH), Cantwell (D-WA), Cardin (D-MD), Dodd (D-CT), Feingold (D-WI), Harkin (D-IA), Kerry (D-MA), Menendez (D-NJ), Wyden (D-OR) -- a.k.a. "The Magnificent 10." Perhaps gentlefolk in Iowa now-a-bed may yet "think themselves accurs'd they were not there" as well.

UPDATE, 12/18: Excerpt from Sen. Cardin's Senate floor statement yesterday on FISA:

...Let me talk for a moment, if I might, about the retroactive immunity because there has been a lot of conversation about retroactive immunity. I oppose retroactive immunity. I think it is the wrong way to help the carriers. Retroactive immunity, to me, violates our responsibility to respect each branch of Government. I want the courts to be able to look at what the executive branch is doing. I want the courts to protect individual rights. I think that when we start looking at retroactive immunity, we start violating the basic separation of powers. ...

posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:48:00 AM -- |  

 
My blog space

I'm joining in "Show Your Blog Space Day" at PSoTD's request. Note the printer cable obstructing the (seldom used) file cabinet drawer. For a far more sightly blog space, see eRobin's entry. The computer wallpaper is "globe east 2048," via NASA Earth Observatory's "Visible Earth."

I don't usually have this many books on my desk, but I'm intending to write a bit about a couple I've read recently, so there they are -- "The Shock Doctrine" (Naomi Klein), and "A Shameful Act" (Taner Akcam). Thumbs up review versions: two thumbs up for both books. Five word review versions: History retold challenges "free" marketeers; Turk: how Turks committed genocide.

posted by Thomas Nephew at 4:59:00 PM -- |