The Senate seeks to "pardon" the President for past lawbreaking

Friday, June 09, 2006
A new low -- the Senate seeks to "pardon" the President for past lawbreaking
by Glenn Greenwald
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/new-low-senate-seeks-to-pardon.html


Observing and commenting on the behavior of Arlen Specter is one of the most unpleasant obligations a person can have, but for anyone following the NSA eavesdropping scandal specifically, and the Bush administration's abuses of executive power generally, it is a necessary evil. The principal reason that the Bush administration has been able to impose its radical theories of lawbreaking on the country is because Congress, with an unseemly eagerness, has permitted itself to be humiliated over and over by an administration which does not hide its contempt for the notion that Congress has any role to play in limiting and checking the executive branch. And few people have more vividly illustrated that institutional debasement than Arlen Specter, who, along with Pat Roberts, has done more than anyone else to ensure that Congress completely relinquishes its constitutional powers to the President.

Congressional abdication is so uniquely damaging because the Founders assumed that Congress would naturally and instinctively resist encroachments by the executive, and the resulting institutional tension -- the inevitable struggle for power between the branches -- is what would preserve governmental balance and prevent true abuses of power. But for the last five years, Congress has done the opposite of what the Founders envisioned. They have meekly submitted to the almost total elimination of their role in our Government and have quietly accepted consolidation of their powers in the President.

If the Congress is unmoved by their constitutional responsibilities, then at least basic human dignity ought to compel them to object to the administration's contempt for the laws they pass. After all, the laws which the administration claims it can ignore and has been breaking are their laws. The Senate passed FISA by a vote of 95-1, and the McCain torture ban by a vote of 90-9, and it is those laws which the President is proclaiming he will simply ignore. And yet not only have they not objected, they have endorsed and even celebrated the President's claimed power to ignore the laws passed by Congress. And that failure, more than anything else, is what has brought us to the real constitutional crisis we face as a result of having a President who claims the power to operate outside of, and above, the law.

~snip~

A recommended, long and important read.
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/06/new-low-senate-seeks-to-pardon.html

He has this act where he pretends to be outraged and makes a big fuss over the Administrations activities then caves-in at the last minute to give them what they want. Not only is it cynical by giving false hope to those concerned but it short-circuits attempts by those who would ensure a thorough and fair investigation into illegal activities. The net result is clear sailing for the ship of state with Specter as the ice breaker of public opinion. It's as if nobody complained at all.

It's easier to gain forgiveness than get permission?

Oh, yeah, he broke the law, but we're going to pat him on his pointy little head and let him go back out and play.

These people are SO cruising for a disaster.

Now they want a bill granting "amnesty" to anyone involved in illegal activities prior to any investigation and indictments of charges, or convictions of crimes against the U.S. Constitution.

Why bother with an investigation?
To "Protect and Defend"??

Congress is about to drive the getaway car.

when they dismiss talk of impeachment of even censure, why do they need to pardon?

Proof enough to me that the NSA spying has leveraged enough blackmail material (or my worst fears - possible attacks on American soil and who might really be the ones threatening them) to make Congress nothing but a rubber stamp in fear of what Dick Cheney will do if they buck him.

Today they just become 'Republicans'. Same deal.

It's that simple.

There are so many that are complicit in allowing this dimwit to do what he does. I am just waiting now for him to call for 4 more years as head of the executive branch.

snip>

For pure corruption and constitutional abdication, nothing could match this:

Another part of the Specter bill would grant blanket amnesty to anyone who authorized warrantless surveillance under presidential authority, a provision that seems to ensure that no one would be held criminally liable if the current program is found illegal under present law.

The idea that the President's allies in Congress would enact legislation which expressly shields government officials, including the President, from criminal liability for past lawbreaking is so reprehensible that it is difficult to describe. To my knowledge, none of the other proposed bills -- including those from the most loyal Bush followers in the Senate -- contained this protective provision. And without knowing anywhere near as much as I would need to know in order to form a definitive opinion, the legality of this provision seems questionable at best. It's really the equivalent of a pardon, a power which the Constitutional preserves for the President. Can Congress act as a court and simply exonerate citizens from criminal conduct?

snip>

Specter receives substantial criticism because of the flamboyant way in which he engages in what can only be described as sado-masochistic rituals with the administration. He pretends to exercise independence only to get beaten into extreme submission, and then returns eagerly for more. It is as unpleasant to watch as it is damaging to our country. But Specter's unique psychological dramas should not obscure the fact that it is the entire Congress which has failed in its responsibilities to take a stand against this President's lawbreaking and abuses, and there is plenty of blame to go around in both parties. The reason the President has been allowed to exert precisely the type of unrestrained power which the Founders sought, first and foremost, to avoid, is because the Congress has allowed him to.

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