Warner says Constitution can be a luxury: I haven't seen a transcript of this speech from Thursday at the University of Florida, but this report has Tom Warner, Florida's Solicitor General, saying that we don't have the luxury of sticking by the Constitution when national security is threatened.
According to Warner, there is a point where, as Thomas Jefferson said, the higher law of self-preservation must take over and an imminent danger must be controlled.
Warner, a UF law school graduate, said there have been times during the Civil War and World War II when presidents have adhered to this principle.
"If we get word," he said, "that some guy is walking around Gainesville with a nuclear bomb in a suitcase, we are not going to worry about illegal searches and seizures and profiling."
One problem is, of course, in defining when national security is at stake. Avoiding the "luxury" of sticking by the constitution is in itself a threat to national security.
Note that Warner is running for Attorney General in Florida. [via BookNotes]
