From the Gonzales press conference

Daily Kos: State of the Nation:

Q If FISA didn't work, why didn't you seek a new statute that allowed something like this legally?
ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: That question was asked earlier. We've had discussions with members of Congress, certain members of Congress, about whether or not we could get an amendment to FISA, and we were advised that that was not likely to be -- that was not something we could likely get, certainly not without jeopardizing the existence of the program, and therefore, killing the program. And that -- and so a decision was made that because we felt that the authorities were there, that we should continue moving forward with this program."
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So Gonzales is saying that Congress would have seen the program as illegal, so we didn't ask for a new statute. Isn't this the executive branch saying "We'll respect Congress as the legislative branch unless we want a law that they don't want. Then it's executive privilege and fuck the constitution."

Exactly how would a strict constitutionalist interpret this?