Suing George W. Bush: A Bizarre and Troubling Tale

On July 3, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in California made a ruling particularly worthy of the nation’s attention. In Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. v. Bush, a key case in the epic battle over warrantless spying inside the United States, Judge Walker ruled, effectively, … that the president lacks the authority to disregard the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The story of how Al-Haramain’s lawyers negotiated the journey thus far to Judge Walker’s ruling … is a surreal saga, involving a top-secret document accidentally released by the government, a showdown between Bush lawyers and a federal judge, the violent destruction of a laptop computer by government agents, and possibly even the top-secret shredding of a banana peel.

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