Ann Beeson Power Quotations

Requiring a judge to approve a wiretap is not a nicety that can be avoided by presidential decree -- it is a fundamental rule of American democracy. The government ignored the system authorized by Congress in favor of limitless power to spy on Americans.

It is crucial that we recognize the important separation of powers principles that our democracy was founded on, ... There should always be a check on the executive branch's power, the president's power, to take away that most fundamental of liberty interests and that is the government's ability to detain a person, possibly indefinitely.