As you know the other day I told you as have others that the apparent change to allow the FISA court full swing in issuing orders for legal domestic survelliance wasn’t at all a back down:

“The Bush administration quickly locked horns with Democratic lawmakers yesterday over its revised domestic wiretap program, signaling that the government will probably oppose efforts to release new court orders from a clandestine court that now governs the spying.

The head of the secret court that approved the program said she has no objection to releasing the documents, but Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte indicated that the administration is likely to resist.

The conflict followed the administration’s announcement Wednesday that it will dismantle the controversial counterterrorism surveillance program run by the National Security Agency and instead conduct the eavesdropping under the authority of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which issues warrants in spy and terrorism cases.

Yesterday’s debate underscored continued skepticism among Democrats and some Republicans over the parameters and legality of the administration’s surveillance efforts, even with court approval, and signaled that Congress and the executive branch are likely to continue sparring over the details.

Although the precise contours and scope of the revised spying program remain unclear, some new information emerged yesterday. Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Justice Department briefers told him the effort was based on “individualized” warrants, rather than a blanket order that would allow broader surveillance.

Four other people who have been briefed on the program, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program is classified, described it as a hybrid effort that includes both individual warrants and the authority for eavesdropping on more broadly defined groups of people.

Administration officials have declined to provide details of how the new version of the program will operate, including whether the government must obtain warrants for each person targeted for surveillance. Officials say the orders from a judge of the intelligence court are “complex” and “innovative” but adhere to the limits of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a 1978 law that governs domestic surveillance of suspected terrorists and spies.

Leading Democrats, while praising the administration’s decision to conduct surveillance under court authority, said yesterday that there are still too many unanswered questions about how the program will be conducted. Specter and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the Judiciary Committee chairman, demanded the release of the intelligence court judge’s orders allowing the new program, issued Jan. 10.

Those demands were bolstered by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the presiding judge of the intelligence court, who wrote in a letter to Leahy and Specter that she has “no objection to this material being made available” to lawmakers.

But Kollar-Kotelly said the final decision is up to the Justice Department, because the orders include classified information.

Gonzales, appearing before the Judiciary Committee, said he could not guarantee the release of the orders because of classified-information restrictions. Negroponte told the House intelligence committee that letting the secret court turn over information about the program to Congress may violate separation-of-powers provisions.

The government program targets telephone calls and e-mails between people in the United States and others overseas if one party is suspected to have links to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups.

Gonzales’s remarks at the Judiciary Committee prompted a testy exchange with Leahy.

“Are you saying that you might object to the court giving us decisions that you’ve publicly announced?” Leahy asked. “Are we a little Alice in Wonderland here?”

“I’m not saying that I have objections to it being released. What I’m saying is it’s not my decision to make,” Gonzales responded. He added later: “There is going to be information about operational details about how we’re doing this that we want to keep confidential.”

It would have been funny but true if Gonzales had come back with, “Senator Leahy, we’re just concerned that some Senators might release classified information just for political purposes, not that anyone here has ever done that”.

The question has really never been whether the FISA court had a role to play, but of whether or not we could trust media whores Senators like Rabid-Yap Joe Biden, Chucky Cheese Schumer, Dingy Harry and other BS artists from running to the nearest microphone every time a ruling was released.