Part III: Deciding What's Law & What Isn't
David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive-power issues, said Bush has cast a cloud over "the whole idea that there is a rule of law," because no one can be certain which laws Bush thinks are valid and which he thinks he can ignore…
A president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him can make the Constitution simply "disappear."
--'Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws," Charles Savage, Boston Globe, April 30, 2006.
At the level of the United States military, Bush has declared that military lawyers could not contradict his administration's lawyers.
And if it were just military rules and regulations that the president wanted to control during time of war, that might be one thing. You could almost understand that, because previous presidents have often suspended certain laws in times of war.
But Bush goes waaaay beyond the military. Even when the Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action programs (as long as they don't require quotas), Bush has taken exception at least NINE TIMES to provisions that seek to ensure that minorities are represented among government jobs, contracts, and grants. Each time, he singled out provisions he did not agree with and attached a signing statement.
In other instances, he has cavalierly tossed out Congressional protections that have been provided to government employees who want to blow the whistle on crimes being committed within their own departments, or excesses and corruption. Thanks to his signing statements, that no longer applies.
Congress also requires that the Justice Department give oversight committees copies of new interpretations of domestic-spying laws, as well as reports on civil liberties, security clearances, border security, and counternarcotics efforts.
Bush signed the bill, then issued a signing statement that said he could withhold any information from Congress he saw fit.
By defying Supreme Court precedents, Bush threatens to overturn the basic structure of constitutional law. But perhaps even more disturbing is the SECRECY with which Bush gets away with this.
Because so much of what this administration does is shrouded in secrecy, it's hard to know which laws are being followed and which are being ignored. That makes it difficult for matters to ripen into a court challenge, notes Boston attorney Harvey Silvergate. "He is setting it up so that the people hurt by what this administration is doing are unable to get to court, because it is secret."
--"Our Monarch, Above the Law," Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe, May 2, 2006.
In other words, Bush decides what is law and what isn't, and who is qualified to interpret it and who isn't--including the United States Supreme Court.
And it doesn't stop with the signing statements. In one very powerful instance, the administration's own Justice Department submitted a 73-page memo in which six lawyers and two analysts in the voting rights section, unanimously concluded that the Texas re-districting plan ramrodded through the Texas legislature by Congressman Tom Delay was illegal because it forced out the districts' votes by Blacks and Hispanics, thus ensuring Republican victories. Delay abused his federal position in shoving through the plan at the state level, and the Justice Department spoke out.
At least, they tried to.
The report was suppressed for nearly three years.
Political appointees overruled the lawyers and ordered them not to speak about the case.
Which brings me to the next power-abuse:
A president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him can make the Constitution simply "disappear."
--'Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws," Charles Savage, Boston Globe, April 30, 2006.
At the level of the United States military, Bush has declared that military lawyers could not contradict his administration's lawyers.
And if it were just military rules and regulations that the president wanted to control during time of war, that might be one thing. You could almost understand that, because previous presidents have often suspended certain laws in times of war.
But Bush goes waaaay beyond the military. Even when the Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action programs (as long as they don't require quotas), Bush has taken exception at least NINE TIMES to provisions that seek to ensure that minorities are represented among government jobs, contracts, and grants. Each time, he singled out provisions he did not agree with and attached a signing statement.
In other instances, he has cavalierly tossed out Congressional protections that have been provided to government employees who want to blow the whistle on crimes being committed within their own departments, or excesses and corruption. Thanks to his signing statements, that no longer applies.
Congress also requires that the Justice Department give oversight committees copies of new interpretations of domestic-spying laws, as well as reports on civil liberties, security clearances, border security, and counternarcotics efforts.
Bush signed the bill, then issued a signing statement that said he could withhold any information from Congress he saw fit.
By defying Supreme Court precedents, Bush threatens to overturn the basic structure of constitutional law. But perhaps even more disturbing is the SECRECY with which Bush gets away with this.
Because so much of what this administration does is shrouded in secrecy, it's hard to know which laws are being followed and which are being ignored. That makes it difficult for matters to ripen into a court challenge, notes Boston attorney Harvey Silvergate. "He is setting it up so that the people hurt by what this administration is doing are unable to get to court, because it is secret."
--"Our Monarch, Above the Law," Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe, May 2, 2006.
In other words, Bush decides what is law and what isn't, and who is qualified to interpret it and who isn't--including the United States Supreme Court.
And it doesn't stop with the signing statements. In one very powerful instance, the administration's own Justice Department submitted a 73-page memo in which six lawyers and two analysts in the voting rights section, unanimously concluded that the Texas re-districting plan ramrodded through the Texas legislature by Congressman Tom Delay was illegal because it forced out the districts' votes by Blacks and Hispanics, thus ensuring Republican victories. Delay abused his federal position in shoving through the plan at the state level, and the Justice Department spoke out.
At least, they tried to.
The report was suppressed for nearly three years.
Political appointees overruled the lawyers and ordered them not to speak about the case.
Which brings me to the next power-abuse:
posted by Deanie Mills at 8:31 PM
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