David Addington: Unitary Theory? I Don't Know What That Is

[babylonsister]

Run time: 01:47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTVWCHHdzCE   Posted on YouTube: June 26, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 26, 2008 By DU Member: babylonsister Views on DU: 1366

 
David Addington, Chief of Staff and Former Counsel to Vice President Cheney, questioned by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) during House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Detainee Interrogation, June 26, 2008

[ProfessorPlum]

1. What. An. Asshole

[Gman]

2. These people are extremely dangerous

[ProfessorPlum]

3. So now "we" all are bound by the Constitution, eh?

What an incredible liar.

[babylonsister]

4. Amazing, isn't it. nt

[musette_sf]

5. from one of the architects

of unitary theory, this response is most disingenuous.

[Maat]

7. Precisely ... (n/t)!

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Battle of the Titans..wow

I hope there is a Michael Moore collecting all these hearing clips..
one hell of a documentary or movie in it.

I am looking forward to watching the hearing when C-Span gets it up for repeat view.
thank you for the preview clip..I will be sure to not eat dinner before I watch Addington.
Cocky S.O.B. ain't he?

[PatSeg]

9. That was my reaction as well

"What a cocky ass!" Who the hell does he think he is?

[musette_sf]

10. he thinks he's Cheney's Cheney

and that is exactly who he is. he needs to receive the maximum possible exposure, so that his name is as loathsomely familiar as that of KKKarl Rove.

[PatSeg]

14. Yeah,

he needs to become a household name. He is way too smug and condescending.

[whistle]

8. Unitary Executive Theory defined

<snip>
The theory
The theory relies on the Vesting Clause of Article II which states "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Proponents of the unitary executive theory use this language along with the Take Care Clause ("The President shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed...") to argue that the Constitution creates a "hierarchical, unified executive department under the direct control of the President."<1>

The theory argues for strict limits to the power of Congress to divest the President of control of the executive branch.

Proponents of the theory argue that the President possesses all of the executive power and can therefore control subordinate officers and agencies of the executive branch. This implies that the power of Congress to remove executive agencies or officers from Presidential control is limited. Thus, under the unitary executive theory, independent agencies and counsels are unconstitutional to the extent that they exercise discretionary executive power, not controlled by the President.<2>

The judicial branch implications are that no part of the executive branch can sue another part because "the executive cannot sue himself." If the federal courts were to adjudicate disputes between executive agencies, it would violate the doctrine of separation of powers.

The theory has been associated with conservative legal thought and members of the Federalist Society, and originally came to prominence in regard to the independent counsel law (see Morrison v. Olson).

Legal expert Morton Rosenberg of the non-partisan Congressional Research Service contends that Alexander Hamilton believed that a unitary executive's power was "confined to commerce, banking, and monetary policy" <3>.

<MORE>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory

David Addington is full of shit and arrogant to boot!

[whistle]

11. In addition on UET

<snip>
Bush administration "Fourth Branch" of government?
In June 2007, Vice President Dick Cheney claimed that he is neither a member of the executive branch of the U.S. government<9>, nor required to comply with executive orders issued by President George W. Bush. In turn, President Bush—consistent with his claim that presidential power "must be unilateral, and unchecked"<10>—also claims that he is not required to comply, as neither the president nor the vice president are "agencies" of the executive branch.<11>

Since 2004, Cheney's office has refused to "allow" the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), "a department within the National Archives, to conduct an on-site inspection of how classified material is handled there, as it is authorized to do under an executive order issued by President Bush." Additionally, Cheney "prevented his office records from going to the National Archives, as required by federal law, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)", who is "now challenging the legality and rationale behind Cheney's decision in a letter<12> sent to the vice president" on June 21, 2007. Waxman also said that Cheney's office "stopped supplying data to the Information Security Oversight Office on its classification and declassification procedures in 2003."<13><14>

Following a threat by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) to defund<15> "$4.8 million in executive-branch funding", "senior administration officials" told The Politico Cheney's office "will not pursue the argument that it is separate from the executive branch ... Two senior Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the rationale had been the view of the vice president’s lawyers, not Cheney himself."<16>

Emanuel said the defunding "vote is still planned, and said the new position means the vice president needs to comply with National Archives requirements."<17>

Cheney & Addington
Jan Frel wrote in the October 28, 2005, AlterNet Blog<18> that Bush had, however, used this "unitary logic, including many of his ill-fated choices relating to torture and the Geneva Conventions."

"And who was the author of the infamous 'torture memo?'," Frel asked? It was David S. Addington, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney since October 2005 and Cheney's counsel since 2001, who "believes in the Unitary Executive theory.<19> If you guessed that this meant the power of one CEO who decides liberty and justice for all, you wouldn't be far off," Frel wrote.

Addington was the "vice president's point man," Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank wrote October 11, 2004.<20>

"Cheney has tried to increase executive power with a series of bold actions -- some so audacious that even conservatives on the Supreme Court sympathetic to Cheney's view have rejected them as overreaching," Milbank wrote.
<MORE>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Unitary_Executive_Theory

[daggahead]

12. Unbelieveable.

These people (neo-con corporatists) will twist the meaning of any word to their advantage (or to avoid the implication of even a hint of guilt). Make Clinton's "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is" sound like a philosophical pondering.

[Jack Rabbit]

13. By the definition Addingto gives, Bush has overstepped the Constitution

And, by drafting signing statements, so has Addington.

The signing statements of Mr. Bush go beyond any unitary executive power and make the President the ultimate legislator. He does not, in fact, have the power to alter acts of Congress or disregard them, although he asserts he does. He does not have the power to negotiate a status of forces agreement committing US troops to Iraq indefinitely without submitting the agreement to the Senate for approval, although he asserts he does. He does not have the power to attack Iran with congressional authorization, although he asserts he does.

Mr. Addington supports Bush in all of this.

Mr. Addington's simple explanation of the unitary executive theory is reasonable, but it is not what Bush is doing nor is it what Addington advocates. The corollary to Article 2, section one is that the President is responsible for everything that happens in the executive branch. Really? Mr. Bush would never stand for that.

[trusty elf]

15. self delete