Cheney Lawyer Claims ‘Congress Lacks Constitutional Power’ To Investigate VP’s Role In Torture

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/29/addington-testify-torture/

Cheney Lawyer Claims ‘Congress Lacks Constitutional Power’ To Investigate VP’s Role In Torture Approval»


Earlier this month, British international lawyer Phillippe Sands revealed in his new book that Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington personally traveled to Guantanamo Bay in 2002, witnessed an interrogation, and sent approval back to Washington.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has requested that Addington “testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay.” But the Guardian notes that in a response today, Counsel to the Vice President Kathryn Wheelberger claimed that “Congress lacks any authority to examine behaviour on the job”:

Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney’s conduct is “not within the {congressional} committee’s power of inquiry.” “Congress lacks the constitutional power to regulate by law what a vice-president communicates in the performance of the vice president’s official duties, or what a vice president recommends that a president communicate,” Wheelberger wrote.

As the Guardian notes, the “exception claimed by Cheney’s office recalls his attempt last year to evade rules for classified documents by deeming the vice-president’s office a hybrid branch of government - both executive and legislative.” “It is hard to know what aspect of the invitation {to you} has given rise to concern that the committee might seek to regulate the vice president’s recommendations to the president,” Conyers told Wheelberger.

The lawyers for former Office of Legal Counsel chief John Yoo and former Attorney General John Ashcroft, key players in the torture program, have also rejected Conyers’ invitation to testify. In a statement yesterday, Conyers provided a May 2 deadline for response or, he said, “I will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process.”

[Vincardog]

1. It is time for inherent contempt citations and jail the privileged bastards in the basement.

[bdamomma]

10. they need to be sent to Gitmo.

they will feel right at home.

[annabanana]

2. No wonder he had his house removed from the google earth

So God can't strike him stone dead with a bolt of lightning....

[bdamomma]

11. he is a coward like the rest of the cabal.

[JDPriestly]

3. Congress has the power to call witnesses regarding potential

legislation. That power is very great and long established.

Congress also has the powers not only to constitute all tribunals beneath the Supreme Court, but also to regulate the land and naval forces, raise and support armies, grant letters of marque and reprisal and make rules concerning captures on land and water. Certainly, Congress has the right to regulate the interrogation techniques used on prisoners whether of war or of any kind. In fact, Congress has passed laws regarding the care of people in the custody of the U.S. before.

Bush's "I'm the commander in chief and a war time president bit does not excuse him from obeying the laws of Congress. Nor does it excuse his assistants or those of the Vice President from testifying before Congress with regard to laws that might be passed.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section1
U.S. Constitution, Art. I, section 8 (excerpt)


To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

And if we aren't holding the prisoners as prisoners of war, what right have we to hold them under the Constitution?

Let's read again the powers of the president. They are pretty limited. The president has the obligation to
give Congress information on the state of the Union from time to time. By tradition, this is understood to mean the State of the Union address, but the Constitution does not limit the information to the State of the Union address. Congress is given lots of authority to meddle in the executive's decision. The president is given no authority to meddle in the Congress' governance of itself or in the Congress' power to pass laws other than to recommend laws and policy. The president even needs the advice and consent of the Senate to sign treaties or make appointments.

Article II
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Bush and Cheney need to re-read the Constitution. We need a good lawyer in the White House, someone who knows how to read the Constitution and reads it regularly.

[electropop]

9. Excellent post; very well-researched.

Thank you.

[pscot]

4. Isn't it past time

for someone to cut this asshole down to size?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. Cheney's Lawyers

are smokin' de ganja

Good luck if he ever is pulled out in front of congress... we shall see.

[yellowcanine]

6. So Cheney's lawyer is arguing that torture is in the VP job description?

The Vice President of the United States<1> (sometimes referred to as VPOTUS,<2> Veep, or VP) is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. As designated by the Constitution of the United States, the vice president also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break tie votes in that chamber. He or she may be assigned additional duties by the President.

The current Vice President of the United States is Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney.


I guess it could fall under "other duties as assigned".

Note: I had no idea Dick Cheney's middle name was Bruce!

[fascisthunter]

7. Let Me Guess? Cheney's Lawyer is a Liar...

Dick Cheney belongs at the Hague! He can take along his sychophantic lawyer.

[nashville_brook]

8. with "impeachment off the table" we have no power whatsoever.

[alfredo]

14. Use the 25th amendment. It only takes a simple majority.

[grannylib]

12. Congress can and should eliminate all funding for the office of the

VP immediately, at least for as long as Darth Cheney occupies that office.

[alfredo]

13. War criminals. We need to make the public understand that in a democracy

we are also liable for crimes committed in our name.

[MsLeopard]

15. War Criminals Indeed!

Nancy?? Harry?? Isn't it time for another sternly worded letter??

:sarcasm:

[alfredo]

17. Impeachment might have passed the house, but they would not have been

able to get the two thirds in the Senate for removal. McConnell would not have allowed a vote. That's the reality.

I'd love to see both cheney and bush impeached, but it would not have worked. Let's put our efforts behind putting them in prison. Firing them from their jobs wouldn't have done shit. Such punishment means nothing to sociopaths, they won't be contrite, they can't be rehabed. All you can do is put them in a cage for the rest of their lives so they cannot do further damage to society.

[crimsonblue]

16. The only sure fire way to make them appear is impeachment.

All bullshit arguments of unitary executive, unlimited power, executive privilege would no longer exist. It's time we have a great purge of our government, starting with Darth and his retard chimp.