To the editor:

President Bush “refuses to accept” that he circumvented the FISA law because he believes what he is doing is “legally right” (press conference, Jan. 26). In truth these are separate questions, being legal and being right, and it appears he is mistaken on both counts.

First, as to legality, this president believes that there are “qualifiers” that allow him to ignore FISA or any other inconvenient law because he has declared a perpetual state of war. But clearly Article II of the Constitution specifies that “he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” and doesn’t provide for any exceptions.

If the president considered FISA too cumbersome, it was his duty to go to Congress and get the law modified. The president has no constitutional power to order the violation of laws passed by Congress and, in fact, the Fourth Amendment forbids him to violate the personal security of people without a lawful warrant.

The president has exceeded his constitutionally defined powers. If this illegitimate expansion of presidential power goes unchecked, allowing this and future presidents to ignore any law under the guise of national security, then the very basis of our democracy is in jeopardy. We did not elect a king.

As for being right, not enough information has been released to make an informed judgment about the justifications of undertaking covert surveillance of American citizens let alone continuing such an operation for four years. But certainly without the safeguards of judicial oversight the program’s scope and implementation appear dubious.