Game, Set, Match

Andy McCarthy has done some legal research and found this gem in Section 2511(3) of Title 18, United States Code, enacted in 1968:

[N]othing in federal statutory law shall limit the constitutional power of the President to take such measures as he deems necessary to protect the Nation against actual or potential attack or other hostile acts of a foreign power, to obtain foreign intelligence information deemed essential to the security of the United States, or to protect national security information against foreign intelligence activities. Nor shall anything … be deemed to limit the constitutional power of the President to take such measures as he deems necessary to protect the United States against the overthrow of the Government by force or other unlawful means, or against any other clear and present danger to the structure or existence of the Government.

Of course, this only restates an established principle of con law. The Congress removed this section when they enacted the FISA law, which purported to do exactly what it prohibited, but that is beyond Congress's power. As McCarthy asks, should we censure Congress for violating its own laws? And they say the president is overreaching.