Will Specter Rein In the White House?

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I’m not sure what to make of Arlen Specter’s latest proposed bill that would authorize the FISA court to review the constitutionality of the Bush administration’s domestic spying program. It seems like a step to bring oversight to the program, and to determine whether it’s legal or not, but why couldn’t this have been done with from the beginning? And what if the FISA court finds that the administration has been acting illegally all this time? At any rate, as with most “policy shifts” from the White House these days, this strikes me as quite suspicious, so I’ll hold off rejoicing until we learn more.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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