Caroline Fredrickson Oversight Quotations

Our government is based upon a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The actions taken by the president undermine the very foundations of our country. We urge the relevant Congressional committees to investigate how the president abused his power as our chief executive. We applaud Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter for committing to hold oversight hearings. The American people deserve to know the truth.

I think one of the fundamental roles of Congress is to exercise oversight of the executive branch. And it's not happening.

When presidents have overstepped the rule of law, history demonstrates how it undermined our core freedoms. We hope that Congress will assert its proper oversight role and demand accountability from the administration. The American people deserve no less from their government. Freedom and liberty must not be trumped by presidential power.

The attorney general took an oath to uphold the Constitution and serve the American public - not to push the White House's agenda. In America, no one is above the law, not even the president. The attorney general has an obligation to investigate this gross violation of the law, and at the bare minimum, should be providing answers to Congress. Effective oversight cannot occur without the full facts.

The board has an opportunity to show that it is not in the pocket of the president and is truly concerned with the liberty and privacy of the American people. Given the ever-growing expansion of the government's law enforcement powers, effective oversight is absolutely essential. We hope that the board will provide real oversight, and not simply the illusion.

Congress must assert its proper role and seek the truth. A government that fails to honor its own laws is a government that fails its people. With the proper oversight and action, Congress can help restore the constitutional system of checks and balances.

This tells us why they didn't want to tell us in the past how many of these they were actually using. The idea that this kind of power resides in the hands of so many people at the FBI with no court oversight is very troubling.