John "Torture" Yoo Says - SCOTUS Hampering Bush's Power Grab (LAT Edit)

[kpete]

The high court's Hamdan power grab
The justices are hampering the president's ability to fight terrorists, says an architect of Bush's legal strategy.
By John Yoo
July 7, 2006


A PRESIDENT responds to an unprecedented war with unprecedented measures that test the limits of his constitutional authority. He suffers setbacks from hostile Supreme Court justices, a critical media and a divided Congress, all of which challenge his war powers.

Liberal pundits and editorial pages would have you believe this describes President Bush after the Supreme Court last week rejected military commissions for trying terrorists. But it just as easily fits Abraham Lincoln when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves or Franklin D. Roosevelt when he made the United States the great "arsenal of democracy" in the lead-up to World War II.

The court's decision in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld ignores the basic workings of our separation of powers and will hamper the ability of future presidents to respond to emergencies with the forcefulness and vision of a Lincoln or an FDR.

Long-standing U.S. practice recognizes that the president, as commander in chief, plays the leading role in wartime. Presidents have started wars without congressional authorization, and they have exercised complete control over military strategy and tactics. They can act with a speed, unity and secrecy that the other branches of government cannot match. By contrast, legislatures are large, diffuse and slow. Their collective design may make them better for deliberating over policy, but at the cost of delay and lack of resolve.

more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-yoo7jul07,0,3547342.story?coll=la-home-commentary

[acmejack]

1. How dare they?

The Judical Branch actually operating as a coequal third leg of the triad of government? Egads!

[Hosnon]

2. Well of course the S. Ct. is hampering his ability to fight terrorists..it

would be much easier if the office of the President had all of the powers of government.

[checkmate1947]

3. Go back to Korea!!!!

If Mr Yoo is so intent on the supreme leader may I suggest he try North Korea he would fit right in at home with Mr. Kim Jung Ill.

[Toots]

4. Damn activist judges..that we appointed..don't they realize Bush* is boss

:shrug: That damn constitution is always getting in our way, it is after all only a piece of paper..:shrug:

[annabanana]

5. Yoo is the worst kind of toadying piece of crap..

He really ought to be subjected to the results of his deluded philosophizing..
(badly in need of a karmic smackdown)

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. Ive listened to him several times - he has a really odd take on

things. And yet he just seems so calm and rational that I can see where people have fallen for his arguments.

[sendero]

7. Churchill, Lincoln, Roosevelt....

.... they love to compare that moron in the white house to men whose boots he's not fit to lick.

I'm thinking more of Al Capone or Daffy Duck.

Bush is certain he's going to go down in history as a great president. He couldn't be more wrong.

[gramsciforza]

8. yes yes yes

It helps to know the play, but here goes

"Some are born great, Some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon'em" feste

[sendero]

11. And some are great...

... only in their own minds, fostered by listening to only sycophants.

[originalpckelly]

9. So this man is comparing...

The freeing of slaves to treating millions of innocent Americans like criminals? (That is by the way what the call record database does.)

[msongs]

10. what makes this guy think ANYONE is challenging Bush criminal

and unconstitutional behavior? So the court rules ONCE against bush. big deal. the congress does nothing. the alleged opposition party does nothing of importance, using ineffective language.

the consititution says only congress can declare war.

it says the president can either implement congressional law or veto it. Nothing about acting on signing statements.

yet bush gets away with starting wars and violating the constitution. sheeesh.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[n2doc]

12. More accurate to say the SCOTUS is limiting his power to fight us

As the front page on DU notes- the evidence is in favor of a GWOTUS (Global War on the US) waged by BUSHCO.