It was probably a week or more ago that I wrote Senator Leahy urging him to sign on as a sponsor of Russ Feingold’s http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:1:./temp/~c109452ftJ::? censure resolution. I’ve really gotten impatient that we’ve heard nothing from him.

Then, today I got an email from Senator Leahy  setting forth his statement. Here’s the text:

Thank you for contacting me about Senator Russell Feingold’s censure resolution.  I appreciate hearing from you.

On Monday, March 13, 2006, Senator Feingold of Wisconsin introduced S. Res. 398 to censure George W. Bush. The resolution would condemn the unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans without obtaining court orders as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.  Senator Feingold says he intended his resolution to prompt congressional investigations into the President’s actions on these issues, but Republican leaders have been reluctant to allow an investigation to proceed.

I agree that Senator Feingold’s resolution raises legitimate issues about the President’s claims on the legality of his domestic spying program.  I have urged Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold hearings on the resolution and continue to investigate the facts surrounding the President’s domestic spying program. So far, the Bush Administration has failed to provide satisfactory legal reasoning for the authorization of this program.

I introduced S. Res. 350 on January 20, 2006 to express the sense of the Senate that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which passed before the invasion of Afghanistan , did not authorize warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens, as the President asserts.  Both S. Res. 350 and S. Res. 398 have been referred to the Judiciary Committee, and I will push for full congressional investigations and oversight of the issues that both resolutions address.  My resolution and statement are available on my website at http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/200601/012006.html

Conducting oversight of the Department of Justice is one of the responsibilities of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Whether serving as Chairman or Ranking Member of the committee, I have taken this responsibility very seriously.  Congressional oversight plays a vital role in our constitutional system of checks and balances and the seriousness of the matters that our nation is presently facing has made oversight more critical than ever. 

I think it’s great that he’s pursuing this, and that he’s introduced the “sense of the Senate” resolution he mentions on illegal spying.

But still. Really, how much investigation is needed to figure out that Bush has violated the law multiple times? We already know everything we need to know. Or at least, we already know everything we need to know to say that he has to sponsor the resolution, not just call for hearings and a full investigation.

Caution is not always a virtue.