Bush Declares Executive Branch Above All Laws

The White House has a new legal strategy in its arsenal- we’ll call it the “Screw you and the horse you rode in on” theory. Basically what it amounts to is the President declaring that any time he asserts executive privilege on anything the matter ends then and there. No questions, no subpoenas, no answers, no consequences . King George has finally arrived.

This final attempt to sever for all time the powers of checks and balances between the three equal branches of our government bodes ill for this democracy. Imagine, Bush pretending to embrace the notions of a democratic form of government, even going so far as to send thousands of our young people to their deaths using ‘democracy’ as a front for their sacrifice, while establishing his own little dictatorship right here at home. It would be shameful for any of us to do so, but for silver-spoon George, it’s merely the culmination of a lifetime of pampered idiocy.

According to the Washington Post, “Administrat ion officials argued yesterday that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in cases, such as the prosecutor firings, in which the president has declared that testimony or documents are protected from release by executive privilege. Officials pointed to a Justice Department legal opinion during the Reagan administrati on, which made the same argument in a case that was never resolved by the courts.”

But under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.” However, as U.S. attorney’s are now understood to be mere political pawns in the Bush administrati on, and not actual bringers of justice (at least not if it runs in opposition to the political ideology of the head cheese), any congressiona l attempt to compel the DOJ to adhere to this federal law has been like holding on to a greased pig.

This is more than just about Attorneygate here folks. This rationale, if allowed to fly, will shield Bush and his team of criminal cronies from any and all legal recourse by allowing him to claim executive privilege on anything he sees fit to keep hidden. It is a dangerous precedent to allow.It is not democracy. It is not justice. It is not American.

Impeach. The. Bastards. Now.

(originally posted at Bring It On!)