Holder for Wiretaps

[Commentary] At a confirmation hearing last week, Sen Orrin hatch (R-UT) asked Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, "you believe," asked Sen Hatch, "that the President has -- that whoever is President has -- inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to engage in warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance? Or, in your opinion, does FISA trump Article II?" The WSJ finds that Holder now concedes that Presidents have inherent powers that even a statute can't abridge. His concession is further evidence that the liberal accusations about "breaking the law" and "illegal wiretaps" of the last several years were mostly about naked partisanship. Mr. Holder's objection turns out to be merely the tactical political one that the Bush Administration would have been better off negotiating with Congress for wiretap approval, not that it was breaking the law.