White House Rebuffs Congress, Nears Legal Showdown

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/09/2407/

White House Rebuffs Congress, Nears Legal Showdown
by Thomas Ferraro / Toby Zakaria

WASHINGTON - The White House moved toward a showdown in court with the Democratic-led Congress on Monday by refusing to provide demanded information and testimony in an investigation into the firing of prosecutors.

In a letter to congressional leaders, White House counsel Fred Fielding called their demands “unreasonable because it represents a substantial incursion into presidential prerogatives.”0709 07

President George W. Bush has adopted a legal doctrine known as executive privilege that has been occasionally invoked with mixed success throughout U.S. history to shield presidents and their aides from having to answer questions or turn over information to Congress or grand juries.

Democrats in Congress want the information and testimony to determine if the firing of nine federal prosecutors last year was the result of partisan politics and White House efforts to reward supporters.

Democrats made it clear they intend to go to court to challenge Bush’s claim and decide which branch of government was in the right.

“Contrary to what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally,” House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, declared in response to Fielding’s letter.

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[grasswire]

1. They must have the SCOTUS votes to validate the unitary pres.

Scary, scary, scary. It sure looks like they want the showdown and hold a strong hand.

[dmosh42]

2. Bush has all his flunky judges waiting to handle the case....

They are better off pushing the Kucinich amendment for impeachment to get rid of Cheney. Nothing is getting signed anyway, so they may as well use the time to convict these crooks in the Congress. That is, if they have the guts.

[Rageneau]

3. This is GOOD News! Because Hillary needs this power to get even with Republicans.

There is a wonderful silver lining to the cloud Bush is pulling over the eyes of Justice. Yes, his refusal to let people testify may keep him out of prison, but it will also do something else -- give Hillary (or whomever becomes the Dem Prez) absolute carte blanche at governing.

Bush and Cheney are attesting that no oversight of the Executive Branch is allowable. Well, fine.

But if that is true today for Bush, it will also be true in 18 months for Hillary. Dems will then be able to push any initiatives we want through Congress with no virtually oversight from the Republicans.

Hillary will have the votes to simply ignore any request from, or opposition made, by Republicans. As of Jan 20, 2008, "Executive Privilege" will be the watchwords of the new Clinton administration. The Repukes will never be able to hobble Hillary like they hobbled Bill for the simple reason that she will be able to roll right over them -- using precedents already established by Bush and Cheney which have already been endorsed by the Conservatives and the media.

Yes, it sucks that we can't bring Bush to justice for his crimes today. But the bright side is that -- thanks to Bush and his supporters -- the Republicans will never be able to bring Hillary to justice -- or even get in her way -- tomorrow.

[abq e streeter]

4. A Dem. 'Unitary executive"

I love it... not a big Hillary fan, though I'll of course vote for whoever our nominee is...of course , the MSM will suddenly rediscover the constitution if the Dems try the "you wanted this, you got it" way of governing.