"The kind of power Nixon only dreamed of"
Jan. 21st, 2007 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saavedra77Indefinite detention of suspected terrorists. Skewed military tribunals. Secret evidence. Prisoners denied access to counsel. Venue-shopping prosecution. Warrantless wiretapping. Presidential signing statements contradicting the signed legislation. Torture and humiliation.
A lot of us concluded some time ago that these tactics amounted to more than just desperate measures in the War on Terror.
After years of giving the Administration "the benefit of the doubt," Slate legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick has apparently now come to the same conclusion:
"The endgame in the war on terror isn't holding the line against terrorists. It's holding the line on hard-fought claims to absolutely limitless presidential authority." ("Absolute Power: The Real Reason the Bush Administration Won't Back Down on Guantanamo," Slate, 01/13/07)
Thankfully, as the President's approval rating continues to slide downward and his Congressional enablers hand over the House and Senate gavels to Democrats, there are signs that the White House is finally climbing down from some of its most ambitiously extraconstitutional claims. Four days after Lithwick's article appeared, the Administration officially retreated from its former assertion of an executive power to engage in warrantless domestic spying, conceding the authority of the independent Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court to oversee such activities. A federal judge declared warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional in August, and the new political environment in Washington meant that Judiciary hearing on this subject could be a real possibility.
One can only hope that Congress will notice that they've just made Bush blink, and keep up the pressure.
A lot of us concluded some time ago that these tactics amounted to more than just desperate measures in the War on Terror.
After years of giving the Administration "the benefit of the doubt," Slate legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick has apparently now come to the same conclusion:
"The endgame in the war on terror isn't holding the line against terrorists. It's holding the line on hard-fought claims to absolutely limitless presidential authority." ("Absolute Power: The Real Reason the Bush Administration Won't Back Down on Guantanamo," Slate, 01/13/07)
Thankfully, as the President's approval rating continues to slide downward and his Congressional enablers hand over the House and Senate gavels to Democrats, there are signs that the White House is finally climbing down from some of its most ambitiously extraconstitutional claims. Four days after Lithwick's article appeared, the Administration officially retreated from its former assertion of an executive power to engage in warrantless domestic spying, conceding the authority of the independent Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court to oversee such activities. A federal judge declared warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional in August, and the new political environment in Washington meant that Judiciary hearing on this subject could be a real possibility.
One can only hope that Congress will notice that they've just made Bush blink, and keep up the pressure.
