Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest (James Robertson)

The Washington Post (excerpt) ^ | December 21, 2005 | Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

Robertson, who was appointed to the federal bench in Washington by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and was later selected by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to serve on the FISA court, declined to comment when reached at his office late yesterday.

[snip]

[saganite]

The MSM will have a field day with this one.

[Bahbah]

The MSM will have a field day with this one.

I'm watching the news. It has already begun. I have become cynical enough to be suspicious that this is part of a coordinated effort.

[Bahbah]

Robertson, who was appointed to the federal bench in Washington by President Bill Clinton in 1994....

In case anyone was wondering.

[GOPyouth]

This makes absolutely no sense at all. The court was notified of the wiretaps. This article makes it sound as if this judge knew about it, had no problem with it, but decided to resign after the NYT ran it.

[johnny7]

Proper headline:

Hack-judge obeys DNC and quits-in-protest

[commonguymd]

"coordinated effort"

Yep. They have had years to plan something like this. Maybe this is why they have been so smug and arrogant for the last year.


It will ALL backfire.

[baystaterebel]

Look up his bio. Look at his rulings. He is a liberal activist judge.

I wonder if his resignation has something to do with a certain criminal investigation heading his way.

Easier position to defend if he says I was a whistle blower and thats why I leaked to the New York Times.

[MagnoliaB]

Hey, I have no problem with some liberal judge, appointed by Clinton, quiting as long as he keeps his mouth shut about national security issues when he is not longer a federal employee.

I do have a question that maybe someone here can answer.

I keep hearing the dimwitocrats belly aching that the President shouldn't overstep getting a wiretap authorized from a judge because he has up 72 hours after wards to get a judges permission.

My question is, what happens if they go ahead and wire tap someone and then the judge says no, what then?

Doesn't this in effect ultimately give a freaking judge the final say over our national security?

[beyond the sea]

I wonder if his resignation has something to do with a certain criminal investigation heading his way.

Hmmm.

****

The following are from FReepers on earlier threads on this.

"Yes as you said this is the same biased Clintonoid judge who proclaimed that the military trials of captured terrorists at Guantanamo were illegal."

"If you Google him get ready for an eyeful and then some. The guy is a corrupt Clinton scumbag from way back."

"Maybe Robertson was forced out, maybe he did not "retire". Maybe he cut a deal to be allowed to resign by telling the JD all who are involved. Just wishful thinking on my part I suppose. Just seems odd that he would just say "I resign" within a matter of days of the President saying the Justice Dept. has procedures for looking into these matters and less than a week from when the NYSlimes started this garbage."

Just a thought ..... could he have been 'asked' to resign? Bush did say the other day the Justice Dept. had 'prodecures' to look into how these highly classified leaks came about."

Robertson is the federal judge who dismissed tax evasion charges against former Justice Department official and presidential friend Webster Hubbell, calling the indictment brought by Independent Counsel Ken Starr "the quintessential fishing expedition."

Judge: 527 Groups OK for Now ..... NewsMax Wires...... Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 ....... WASHINGTON –This is the same judge who denied a request to force the Federal Election Commission to act on complaints by President Bush's campaign against anti-Bush groups (527's) spending millions of dollars on ads in the presidential race. District Judge James Robertson told Bush's attorneys that he agreed that the FEC had moved at a ``glacial pace'' in handling complaints, but he added, ``That's the way Congress has set it up and apparently that's the way Congress likes it."

[beyond the sea]

Proper headline: Hack-judge obeys DNC and quits-in-protest

Maybe.

Maybe: Leaking Hack-judge Quits Under Pressure

[Robert A Cook PE]

Meaningless, UNTIL you know his politics, who first appointed (er, annointed) him to the judiciary, and who he donates to.

In Washington today, "ALL politics is Party politics" ....

[johnny7]

Agreed.

[stocksthatgoup]

This is the same judge who has fought the Bush Administration every step in the WOT. The same judge who dismissed charges against Web Hubbell, his wife and other Clintonistas. This judge is the worst kind of political hack.
-----
November 08, 2004
Federal District Judge James Robertson ruled today that the Guantanamo military tribunals are illegal as constituted.
-----
U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the New Buffalo area where the tribe intends to build its casino will not sustain significant negative environmental or social impact due to the development as claimed by Taxpayers of Michigan Against Casinos.
------
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 1) -- A federal judge dismissed tax evasion charges against former Justice Department official and presidential friend Webster Hubbell, calling the indictment brought by Independent Counsel Ken Starr "the quintessential fishing expedition."
-------
11:00 AM Aug. 02, 2000 PT The FBI must respond to privacy activists' request for information about the Carnivore email surveillance system. In a hearing late Wednesday,
-------
U.S. District Judge James Robertson's decision is "a major rebuke to federal agencies charged with protecting imperiled wildlife," said the National Wildlife Federation, which sued the service and the Corps over Florida Rock's plans to mine for limestone on 5,200 acres near Ft. Myers, Fla.
-----
Just a short list of this judge's decisions.

[dawn53]

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

This article is using third person speculation to prove their premise.

[bkepley]

Das leck!

[airborne]

One out of eleven. That can only mean one thing.


A liberal Democrat with visions of a book deal.

[isrul]

Surprise, surprise ... a Clinton appointee.

[RdhseRat]

The problem is that he only resigned from the Surveillance court. He did not resign his position as a federal judge.

If he feels so strongly about it he should do the honorable thing and step down from the federal bench.

[gakrak]

Just love it when another Clintoon appointee bites the dust. What do lyou bet he will be looking for a way to recant his resignation. LOL. Amen.