Tag: Bruce Fein

Constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein and former presidential candidate and consumer advocate, Ralph Nader visited Harvard Law School to  discuss the constitutional crimes of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack H.Obama It is well worth the hour to watch if you love this country and respect the Constitution and our laws.

February 10, 2012

Ralph Nader ’58 and Bruce Fein ’72 visited Harvard Law School for a talk sponsored by the HLS Forum and the Harvard Law Record. At the event, “America’s Lawless Empire: The Constitutional Crimes of Bush and Obama,” both men discussed what they called lawless, violent practices by the White House and its agencies that have become institutionalized by both political parties. [..]

Both men took issue with the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the budget and policies of the Department of Defense and generally expands the power of the government to fight the war on terror. The Act permits, among other practices, the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects without trial. Fein encouraged those in attendance to contact their members of congress about repealing it.

Bruce Fein has been my “hero” since he called for the simultaneous impeachment of both Bush and Cheney as a requirement of congress mandated by the Constitution and then drafted articles of impeachment of Barack Obama for the same reasons. The Constitution and its enforcement is not a spectator sport.

At his Balkinization site, Jack Balkin discusses how he had predicted the current state of increased national surveillance that were put in place by George W. Bush during the “war on terrorism”. It would not matter if the president was a Democrat or a Republican because it has little to do with 9/11 but more about the National Security State that was created after World War II and it would be expected that these policies would be expanded.

Barack Obama has largely confirmed these expectations, much to the dismay of many liberals who supported him. After issuing a series of publicly lauded executive orders on assuming office (including a ban on torture), he has more or less systematically adopted policies consistent with the second term of the George W. Bush Administration, employing the new powers granted to the President by Congress in the Authorization of the Use of Military Force of 2001, the Patriot Act of 2001 (as amended), the Protect America Act of 2007, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 and the Military Commissions Acts of 2006 and 2009. These statutory authorizations have created a basic framework for the National Surveillance State, and have made Obama the most powerful president in history in these policy areas.

In spite of all the flowery rhetoric in public, behind the curtain Barack Obama is an extension of what is turning into an Imperial Presidency. This issue goes hand in hand with the expansion of the Military Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower warned of in his farewell address. David Swanson, author, blogger, and activist, and Bruce Fein, a constitutional and international lawyer discuss the current state of the growing surveillance state that is is making an end run Bill of Rights protections and expectations about procedure. The following four videos that were made on March 17 and moderated by attorney and author, John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute are well worth the time.