Bush solves US Attorneys mess
Well, thank goodness! Now Congress doesn't have to worry about that any more, and can especially forget about filing contempt charges against anybody in the White House.
Why? Because contempt charges have to be pursued by US Attorneys .. and the White House told the Justice Department that US Attorneys aren’t allowed to prosecute contempt cases when the preznit claims Executive Privilege.
Huh? When did the White House start telling the Justice Department what it could and could not do? I thought the two branches were supposed to keep each other at arms-length .. otherwise someone might get the impression that the White House has the Justice Department in its back pocket. <coff coff>
From The New York Times: WASHINGTON, July 20 — The Justice Department would be likely to block any efforts by Congressional Democrats to seek contempt charges against present and former White House officials for refusing to give information to Congress, a White House spokesman said Friday.
Congress and the White House have been moving toward a constitutional confrontation over the administration’s invoking executive privilege to prevent any testimony about its role in last year’s dismissal of federal prosecutors. [..]"
So .. Bush is proclaiming that he is above all law. Sort of Putinesque isn't it?
Since we are no longer a nation of laws .. we might just as well pack it up and go hide out in the woods. Nixon was right when he said -- "When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal."
Too bad Clinton failed to realize this .. all that impeachment crap could have been avoided.
Has everyone gone crazy!? People of both parties need to rise up and defend our precious Constitution! .. STOP this administration in its tracks!
I rather like this part....
"Congress has another route to enforce its will, an inherent power of contempt. But that has not been used since early in the 20th century. It has long been deemed unwieldy in the modern era as it entails Congress stopping all work to hold its own trial and imprisoning any offenders in the basement of the Capitol."
Maybe they would sell tickets ....
We may have to impeach Gonzalez to combat White House claims of executive privilege .. he deserves it anyway. It would certainly get the media to pay attention .. and would show that Congress means business and won't be shoved around.
Please oh please let Bush continue to push the limits of executive authority .. he edges closer and closer to obstruction of justice .. and a weird sort of Catch 22. Because there is no way to determine if obstruction has taken place except through the process of law.
The ball is clearly now in Congress' court .. let's see what they are willing, or not willing to do.
The first step would be to exercise their contempt powers, which they should have already done last week when Harriet Meirs failed to appear.
Ugly Thought: If the Democrats don't fiercely challenge this executive privilege distortion, this declaration of dictatorship .. could it be because they want to inherit these same powers when they get back into the White House?
The Republicans really, really oughta think about that......
