No one should be above the law

President Bush launched a new political campaign yesterday to defend his apparently illegal eavesdropping program with a speech in Kansas, where he said, "If I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?"1
There's a simple answer to that question: he wasn't briefing Congress.
Wiretapping Americans without a warrant appears to violate the Constitution and the president has admitted to doing just that.3 Here are checks on some of the things President Bush has been saying to defend his apparently illegal program:
This is not about tracking terrorists, it's about a potential breach of the Constitution. The administration says the spying program is narrow,4 and even said it's limited to people with ties to Al Qaeda.5 But the president already has the authority to track terrorists. Further, the New York Times reports the facts differently, saying the data was overwhelming and often led to innocent Americans.6
Republicans and Democrats believe the president may have broken the law. The White House is claiming that Democrats are the only ones objecting to the program7 However, Republicans like Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback, John McCain and Arlen Specter have offered some of the harshest criticism of the program.8
Congress did not give the president authority to conduct the secret program. The White House has claimed the authority to conduct secret wiretaps because of a Congressional resolution passed after 9/11.9 The non-partisan Congressional Research Service found that the resolution didn't authorize the program,10 and found it "unlikely" that any court would agree with the White House's justifications.