Big Mitch gets slapped down by Laurence Tribe.

On January 2, 2006, I wrote The President and Article II of the Constitution, in which I called the President’s defense of the program of domestic spying “horsefeathers.” Today, I received a correction from America’s pre-eminent scholar of Constitutional Law, Laurence Tribe, by way of Congressman John Conyers.

Speaking of the Administration’s defense of its own illegal conduct, Professor Tribe states: “The technical legal term for that is, I believe, poppycock.”

Thanks for the correction, Larry.

You can read Professor Tribe’s letter to John Conyers here, but if you want to skip to the bottom line here it is:

“The inescapable conclusion is that the AUMF did not implicitly authorize what the FISA expressly prohibited. It follows that the presidential program of surveillance at issue here is a violation of the separation of powers -- as grave an abuse of executive authority as I can recall ever having studied.”

“…and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”