WASHINGTON (NNPA) - President George Bush’s authorization of a secret domestic spying program—and his fierce defense of his action—is leading to talk of possible impeachment.

“In my opinion, the President has violated the law, and the House and Senate must pursue their inquiries into this illegal program,” Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) said in a recent release.

“The American people deserve the truth. We must gather the facts and determine, once and for all, whether the law was violated. There is no question that the U.S. Congress has impeached presidents for lesser offenses,” Rep. Lewis continued. “This executive order takes us back to the dark past when our government spied on civil rights leaders and Vietnam War protestors. Without obtaining the judicial authorization required to wiretap American citizens, the American people have no protection against the misuse of this program for illegal or vindictive means.”

The revelation of the secret domestic spying program has angered both Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would conduct hearings on the warrantless monitoring of international phone calls, faxes and emails of U.S. citizens or residents since 2002.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked why Pres. Bush failed to get the warrants from the court under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which set up an 11-member court to issue warrants to investigate U.S. suspects in national security cases. In recent years, the secret court has issued more than 4,000 warrants and denied less than a dozen requests by the administration.

Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean, a Republican, has publicly described Pres. Bush as being “the first president to admit to an impeachable offense.”

The controversy over domestic spying will no doubt become increasingly heated in various political forums in 2006 as raging debate over whether to re-enact the USA Patriot Act resumes in Congress.

Three days before Christmas, Congress passed a short extension of the Patriot Act, just until Feb. 3. It was set to expire on Dec. 31.

With the backdrop of the domestic spying revelations, even arch Bush supporter Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, fought some Republicans who wanted a six-month extension, revealing deep divisions even among Republicans over issues of investigations and privacy. President Bush had fought for full reauthorization of the act and implied that it was a partisan issue.

Apparently smelling blood, human and civil rights activists and civil libertarians also continue to weigh into the debate.

“Law-abiding Americans deserve to know that their government will not secretly tap their phones, read their medical records, access their library accounts or otherwise invade their personal lives, with no oversight or accountability,” states Ralph Neas, president of the People for the American Way. “Law-abiding Americans also deserve to know that, when law enforcement can show an impartial judge clear evidence of criminal activity or a threat to national security, swift and decisive action will be taken to protect the public. That is the balance we must achieve.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the president on the “Meet the Press” television program.

“I’m not a lawyer, but the President has gone to great lengths to make certain that he is both living under his obligations to protect Americans from another attack and to protect their civil liberties,” she said. “What the president wants to prevent is the use of American territory as a safe haven for communications between terrorists operating here, or people with terrorist links operating here, and people operating outside the country.”

Though no lawmaker has publicly stated that special surveillance programs are not needed to protect Americans from terrorism, many now scoff at the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that it engages in questionable operations in order to fight terrorism.

“The President must stop using the threat of terrorism and the tactics of fear to invade the privacy of American citizens,” stressed Rep. Lewis. “It seems clear that there was no respect for the objections of those elected representatives who raised concerns about this domestic spying program.”