Listening to the debate over an abortion case in the Supreme Court recently, I believe it was Scalia who suggested that in the middle of surgery when the mother's life might be at stake, that a nurse could spare 30 seconds to call a judge who is always on call who would give a yea or nay over the phone to allowing aborting the fetus. The folks against this law sounded slightly flabbergasted, noting that there might be seconds to decide. Scalia was dubious--I mean, he has months to make life and death decisions, right? I started screaming at the radio. Yeah, I want a judge at 2 a.m. who is "always on call" to make a decision that a doctor needs to make.

So it's particularly amusing that Gen. Hayden cites efficiency (not expediency) in the FISA comment. I'd love to see Scalia justify that: "When life and death is on the line, they can't take 30 seconds to make a call to the FISA court!"