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The oªcer said, “Then why don’t you go back to your fucking country?” I didn’t tell my daughter where I had been. I didn’t want her to worry about me being in jail—which she knows as a place for bad people, for criminals. I told her that I went to see a friend in San Diego. —Behrooz Arshadi is an Iranian-born businessman who lived in Los Angeles for many years. Mark Engler is a writer based in New York City and a senior analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus. Our Job Is Not to Stand Up and Cheer When the President Breaks the Law Senator Russ Feingold april 2006 Speech delivered on the Senate floor, February 7, 2006 Mr. President, last week the President of the United States gave his State of the Union address, where he spoke of America’s leadership in the world, and called on all of us to “lead this world toward freedom.” Again and again, he invoked the principle of freedom , and how it can transform nations, and empower people around the world. But, almost in the same breath, the President openly acknowledged that he has ordered the government to spy on Americans, on American soil, without the warrants required by law. The President issued a call to spread freedom throughout the world, and then he admitted that he has deprived Americans of one of their most basic freedoms under the Fourth Amendment—to be free from unjustiWed government intrusion. The President was blunt. He said that he had authorized the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program, and he made a number of misleading arguments to defend himself. His words got rousing applause from Republicans, and even some Democrats. The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his e¤orts to justify this program. How is that worthy of applause? Since when do we celebrate our commander in chief for violating our most basic freedoms, and misleading the American people in the process? When did we start to stand up and cheer for breaking the law? In that moment at the State of the Union, I felt ashamed. Congress has lost its way if we don’t hold this President accountable for his actions. This goes way beyond party, and way beyond politics. What the President has done here is to break faith with the American people. In the State of the Union, he also said Feingold / Our Job Is Not to Stand Up and Cheer 29 that “we must always be clear in our principles” to get support from friends and allies that we need to Wght terrorism. So let’s be clear about a basic American principle: When someone breaks the law, when someone misleads the public in an attempt to justify his actions, he needs to be held accountable. The President of the United States has broken the law. The President of the United States is trying to mislead the American people. And he needs to be held accountable. To Wnd out that the President of the United States has violated the basic rights of the American people is chilling. And then to see him publicly embrace his actions— and to see so many Members of Congress cheer him on—is appalling. The President is not a king. And the Congress is not a king’s court. Our job is not to stand up and cheer when the President breaks the law. That is one of the reasons that the framers put us here—to ensure balance between the branches of government, not to act as a professional cheering section. We need answers. Because no one, not the President, not the Attorney General, and not any of their defenders in this body has been able to explain why it is necessary to break the law to defend against terrorism. And I think that’s because they can’t explain it. Instead, this Administration reacts to anyone who questions this illegal program by saying that those of us who demand the truth and stand up for our rights and freedoms have a pre-9/11 view of the world. In fact, the President has a pre-1776 view of the world. Our Founders lived in dangerous times, and they risked everything for freedom. Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me...

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