Entries by emptywheel

Congress Has a Legislative Need to Understand Bush’s Intent

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Nope, I still haven’t stopped obsessing over Clement’s opinion on the subpoenas.

As I pointed out yesterday, Clement makes one claim that I believe is false and probably disingenuous. He claims that Bush has a nondelegable power to appoint US Attorneys, inscribed in the Constitution.

These confidentiality interests are particularly strongwhere, as here, the communications may implicate a “quintessential andnondelegable Presidential power,” such as the authority to nominate orto remove U.S.

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Timing

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This bears mentioning.

Congress subpoenaed the White House for information on the USA Purge on June 13, just 15 days ago. Already, OLC has done its review, Paul Clement has written his opinion, and Fred Fielding has provided a response to Congress. 15 days.

Bill Leonard, head of ISOO, wrote Alberto Gonzales on January 9 for an opinion on whether Cheney was indeed exempt from Bush’s own Executive Order.

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Back to the Eighteen Minute Gap

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I’m still obsessing about Paul Clement’s opinion on whether Bush can assert executive privilege over documents relating to the US Attorney purge. Here’s a little tidbit I find interesting.

Clement is discussing the third chunk of things Congress requested.

The final category of documents and testimony concerns communications between the
Department of Justice and the White House concerning proposals to dismiss and replace U.S.

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TSA versus Booz Allen

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I’d like to use some details from the WaPo’s story on Booz Allen’s no-bid contract this morning to put some things in perspective. The article cites the SSCI with a price tag for each contract employee:

The average annual cost ofa contract employee is $250,000, almost twice that of a federalemployee, according to an estimate recently cited by the Senate SelectCommittee on Intelligence.

I’m guessing that, since so many federal employees are unionized,

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Fred’s Fuck You and Clement’s Conflict of Interest

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Congresswoman Sanchez is right. Fred Fielding’s letter telling Congress to fuck off is not so much a legal notice, but a lecture. It spends two paragraphs saying “no,” one paragraph spinning the White House as cooperative, and then seven paragraphs talking about the exalted tradition of executive privilege.

More troubling, however, is what Fielding attaches:

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Grossly Beyond the Scope

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The WaPo has a story today about how a $2 million DHS no-bid contract with Booz Allen awarded in May 2003 turned into $30 million by the end of 2004 and into a $48 million contract in June 2005 and into $73 million and finally $124 million. I’m going to return to the whole question of outsourcing after McCaffrey the MilleniaLab and I get back from our walk.

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Shall

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Did I mention that it was thunderstorming something fierce here in SE Michigan? Yes, raining and pouring, too.

This morning, when I read the famous Executive Order that Cheney claims to have exempted himself from, I noticed a key paragraph:

The Attorney General, upon request by the head of an agency or the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, shall render an interpretation of this order with respect to any question arising

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Subpoenas

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It has been kind of wrath of god-y over here for the last hour. Just as I heard that OVP, NSC, DOJ, and WH have been subpoenaed, a big (much needed) thunderstorm took out my Toobz. Let’s hope the wrath of god thing continues for the bad guys, as this is the move that will either give Anthony Kennedy the opportunity to roll up our Constitution …

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The WaPo’s Schizophrenia

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What a stark comparison. We’ve been treated to a four-day series unveiling the secrets of Cheney’s power. And in the same week, Eric Boehlert takes on the WaPo’s consistent attempt to belittle the Plame investigation, along with its absolute capitulation to the Libby Lobby.

Meanwhile, searching through the Nexisnews database going back more than 40 months, I cannot find a single outsidecontributor who was invited by the newspaper to write a piece

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It Depends on What the Definition of “Agency” Is

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I get the feeling that someone in the White House told OVP that their claim to be a Fourth Branch of government carried some serious risk to the White House. After all, if Cheney now claims he’s not in the Executive Branch, then he’s got to hand over the Energy Task Force documents, right?

So now David Addington has revised his rationale, claiming that OVP is simply not an agency.

“Dear Senator Kerry,”

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