Bush As Monarch, Part 2

by Steve

The Post reports in a Page One Friday that the Bush Administration has expanded its executive privilege claim to bar the Justice Department from acting upon any congressional contempt of Congress referral.

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

Under this Cheneyesque unitary executive rendering, the president’s assertion of executive privilege guts the legislative branch’s powers under the constitution, making a president a monarch, accountable to no one except the voters at election time. As noted by the Bush supporters in the piece, they are affirming that the Justice Department exists to work for and defend the president, not to uphold the law. That only serves to make clear the need for a Special Prosecutor, given the conflict of interest, and a court challenge.

I think it is well past time for the Democratic leadership to force this issue to the courts and into the lap of the Bush Supreme Court to validate Cheney’s evisceration of Congress and the courts.