White House privilege claim ruled ‘not legally valid.’
By on Jul 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
White House privilege claim ruled ‘not legally valid.’
In a 7-3 ruling today, a House Judiciary subcommittee ruled that that the White House’s assertion of executive privilege to block the release of “documents sought in subpoenas issued to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and the Republican National Committee was not legally valid.” During the 20-minute hearing, Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI) said that “the White House participated in false statements to Congress.”
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Dispatch the Sergeant at Arms to arrest Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales fortwith.
-GSD
July 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pmNot legally valid.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:35 pmOk…And what are we going to do about it?
July 19th, 2007 at 4:35 pmAny idea on how the party affiliation breaks down on the 7 and the 3 ? Admittedly, I have my guesses.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:36 pmWell, thank heaven for small favors.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:36 pmDid the House Judiciary subcommittee suddenly replace the Courts? I don’t think so.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:37 pmCan I be the Mr. President of this thread, at least?
July 19th, 2007 at 4:37 pm“Not legally valid”
That phrase can be applied to most of Bush’s term.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pmhey DFAL…The courts dont get to do what the Congress does. Read the document Bush likes to call ‘just a goddamn piece of paper’.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pmThe House Judiciary subcommittee vote was to authorize subpoenas. It does not mean that subpoenas will be issued; only that they could be if the four White House officials Democrats want to question do not voluntarily testify under oath.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:45 pmWell that’s just un-American!
July 19th, 2007 at 4:45 pmAm I reading this right? I thought the DoJ was nothing more than an RNC clearinghouse. . . .
And “Can I be the Mr. President of this thread, at least?
Comment by Mr. President”
Anything you want, good buddy, as long as you change your Mr. Presidential diaper first.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pmHey! That first Mr. President is fake!
July 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pmok, Mr. President, you can have this one if you will answer one question…
When does Junior High get back in session? We here have had enough of your unsupervised summer break.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pmDFAL, why? You need to know so you can once again defend your CRIMINAL FACIST President? What is wrong with you people? You will just blindly follow regardless of the evidence of his blatant disregard for the law and for our, YOUR freedoms?
July 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pmSomething is truly off about all these loyal Bushie people. They are zealots and think God is talking through Bush or something, this is NOT normal for anyone with half a brain not to see all the criminal stuff going on! They have totally overtaken our govt. agencies and used OUR resources to push their candidates! They give huge contracts to their cronies for kickbacks then the cronies are so utterly incompetent, they do things like build boats for the Coast Guard that WILL NOT FLOAT.
These people have ruined us and still these idiots support them!
Talk about blind followers! These slimeball Rethugs in the Senate blocking EVERYTHING, all the legislation for transparency, ethics, you name it. If it is good for Americans, the Rethugs are against it! Their blind sheep will support them no matter HOW ignorant or dishonest they are, they suck up their disinformation. It’s shameful.
Damn. Where are Fawn Hall’s panties when you need them? Everybody managed to get into those.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:49 pm.
Quit saying, misled.. or false statements… call it for what it is….. LIES GODDAMN IT!
July 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pmHey! That first Mr. President is fake!
Comment by Mr. President
All the Mr. President’s are fake.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pmAll are one and one are all.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pmPlease let’s ignore the trolls. They’ve been humiliated and ridiculed up one side and down the other today — which is fine — except that they’re accomplishing their goal of derailing threads.
And need I remind everyone that one of them (if there is in fact more than one, which is in doubt) namejacked an Iraq War casualty and accused his comrade of lying about his service.
They are beneath contempt.
Although I do enjoy the dispatches from Mr. President’s Tube Sock.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pmKnock it off! I’m Mr. President.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pmBreaking news…….
At a press conference this week, Condoleezza Rice said Russian President Putin should come clean on the England/Russian spy scandal and help in the investigation by turning over all relevent documentation Associated with the crime.
Rice said, “It’s a matter of Law.â€
Later, President Putin announced they could not release any other information because of “Executive Privilege.â€
The press conference happened, Putin’s statement did not. But what would be the difference between him claiming Executive Privledge, and our king……er, I mean president?
Coming soon….. The Republican States of America
White, Patriotic, Christian Americans welcome.
It will be americas version of the Taliban.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pmAmazing that three members of the committee haven’t read the constitution. It’s truly astonishing how polarized this country has become thanks to the neocons and their constant emphasis on “us and them” and dragging everybody down to their level. Why is so darn complicated for neocons and their followers to understand about nobody being above the law?
July 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pm#24 - dont worry about that… the repukes are minorities now and all you have to do is cut a loud fart and they jump out of their skin…. a real confrontation would be a walk in the park.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:54 pmDispatch the Sergeant at Arms to arrest Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales fortwith.
Not yet. There’s got to be a vote in the full committee (this was just the subcommittee) and then on the House floor.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:56 pmThe stalling has to end already! Why hasn’t Harriet Miers been charged with INHERENT CONTEMPT yet? She ignored a Congreessional subpoena last week. If you and I did that we’d be in jail. She’s blocking an investigation into an alleged crime.
INHERENT CONTEMPT is a little used, little known Constitutionally approved tool the Congress has. When charged she will be ARRESTED, handcuffed and dragged to the House of Representatives by the Capitol Hill Police and Sergeant at Arms. SHE WILL THEN GO ON TRIAL IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE HOUSE. Depending on what she says or refuses to say she can be IMPRISONED IMMEDIATELY until the end of the Congress term expires.
Ordinary Criminal Contempt is a Dead End. The case will be handed to the US Attorney in DC who is a Bush lackey. He will most likely decline to follow through. This is the course Bush, Rove etc. want Democrats to take. The Dems. would be fools and cowards to take this route.
This is urgent. A decision will be made next week. We must relentlessly pound away on the phones and SCREAM INHERENT CONTEMPT. Here’s the phone number of all the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. Call all of them even if they’re not your reps. Be relentless!
John Conyers (D) Michigan 1-202-225-5126
July 19th, 2007 at 4:56 pmHoward L. Berman (D) California 1-202-225-3196
Rick Boucher (D) Virginia 1-202-225-3861
Jerrold Nadler (D) New York 1-202-225-5635
Robert C. Scott (D) Virginia 1-202-225-8351
Melvin Watt (D) North Carolina 1-202-225-1510
Zoe Lofgren (D) California 1-202-225-3072
Sheila Jackson Lee (D) Texas 1-202-225-3816
Maxine Waters (D) California 1-202-225-2201
Martin Meehan (D) Massachusetts 1-202-225-3411
Bill Delahunt (D) Massachusetts 1-202-225-3111
Robert Wexler (D) Florida 1-202-225-3001
Loretta Sánchez, (D) California 1-202-225-6676
Steve Cohen (D) Tennessee 1-202-225-3265
Hank Johnson (D) Georgia 1-202-225-1605
Luis Gutierrez (D) Illinois 1-202-225-8203
Brad Sherman (D) California 1-202-225-5911
Anthony Weiner (D) New York 1-202-225-6616
Adam Schiff (D) California 1-202-225-4176
Artur Davis (D) Alabama 1-202-225-2665
Debby Wasserman Schultz (D) Florida 1-202-225-7931
Keith Ellison (D) Minnesota 1-202-225-4755
Tammy Baldwin (D) Wisconsin 1-202-225-2906
What a bunch of bastards!!! An earlier thread discusses how terrible it would be to discuss the eventual pull out of Iraq but these asshats talk about military strikes in Pakistan.
Ship of fools on a cruel sea.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:56 pmAlthough I do enjoy the dispatches from Mr. President’s Tube Sock.
Comment by spit take
Mr. President’s Tube Sock would like to be able to go just ONE DAY without a ‘dispatch.’
July 19th, 2007 at 4:58 pmPlease know it off with the Mr. President crap…
July 19th, 2007 at 4:59 pm#24 Breaking news…….
At a press conference this week, Condoleezza Rice said Russian President Putin should come clean on the England/Russian spy scandal and help in the investigation by turning over all relevent documentation Associated with the crime.
Rice said, “It’s a matter of Law.†Comment by For Whom The Bell Tolls
How ironic. I hadn’t heard this. Thanks for the post.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:00 pmYou guys are such jerks!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:00 pm#30…Please make at least three calls a day. It only takes five minutes and costs a few cents. We either have a system of justice or we don’t. More is at stake than we can imagine.
**Please copy and paste my above post on every site you visit and include in your outgoing e-mail. Or write your own ad. Get the message out.
**I just heard an interview with Steve Cohen (D) on Randi Rhodes and he was WAFFLING on this issue. Pound him with calls and TELL HIM what to do. Don’t leave any doubt. He works for us!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:02 pmHehheh. TP regular users are now trashing threads.
Mission Accomplished
July 19th, 2007 at 5:03 pmThe Repubs will defend to their last breath the right of our current president and vice president to do whatever they want to do — even if they went out and robbed banks or raped early morning joggers — merely because it’s more important that the Democrats don’t “win” anything.
They don’t see the dangerous precedent they are setting for the next president. Right now, with the Patriot Act, the loss of habeus corpus, and various other unchecked powers handed over to our president by an obedient Repub congress, Bushney has amassed power of such magnitude that makes Nixon’s height of power look like impotence. And the next president is going to be handed this same toolbox.
Do the obstructionist Repubs really want to hand Hillary that much power?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:03 pmEnough with the pretending to be me. It’s not adding any real substance to the discussion, so knock it off.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:04 pmI told you guys last week it was not valid.
Executive privilege is an established precedent that has only been upheld in matters of national security or international relations.
Bush’s invocation of it had to be struck down. There is no legal precedent to support it.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:04 pmSounds like Mr President is about to get into a slap fight w/ himself. Will it be on Pay-per-view?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:05 pmmissmolly- this is probably why we won’t see an impeachment. The new powers now vested in the “central government” will be passed on to democrats in 2009.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pma pitch for a new movie?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pmNow, if the WH flips off the House AGAIN, what happens next?
Perp walk for Alberto, Harriet, and ???
July 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pmHah, you didn’t say that in #43, I did, the REAL Mr. President. Enough is enough.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:08 pmNow, if the WH flips off the House AGAIN, what happens next?
“Stop! or I’ll yell ‘Stop!’ again.”
July 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pm–R Williams
Incorrect. I know I’m the real Mr. President, everyone else knows that I’m the real Mr. President, so that’s that.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pmGeorge W Bush, does not have the authority to invoke executive privilege, because to date, no invocation of executive privilege that does not involve military or national security issues, or international relations, has been upheld by any court, anywhere, at anytime.
Executive privilege has only been successfully invoked for national security related issues and international relations.
Washington was the first, invoking the privilege to argue against providing documentation with regards to the Jay Treaty, which encompassed international relations. Washington argued that the only the Senate has a role in ratifying treaties, and essentially won, providing the documents only to the Senate, and not the lower house.
Jefferson next invoked it for the Aaron Burr trial, arguing public safety. The court overruled that argument, and Jefferson was compelled to turn over his notes and letters regarding Burr.
Dwight Eisenhower next invoked it, to refuse to hand over notes from meetings with the Army, which of course is a military and national security issue.
Nixon next invoked it, trying to conceal records and audio tapes from the Watergate special prosecutor. The court, while acknowledging the need for such a clause, was unwilling to move beyond the precedent already set by previous uses of the law, and cited that there was no allowance for “general confidentiality†nor was there any ties to the acid test of national security, or international relations, and Nixons claim was struck down, and the tapes were played (mysteriously missing 18 minutes)
Next it was invoked by Clinton, who invoked it to try to keep his aides from testifying in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The court struck down Clintons claim, citing the earlier 1974 ruling and its defining parameters, and Clintons aides were ordered to testify. Later, Clinton tried to invoke it again with regards to his OWN testimony, and ended up dropping his claim when it was clear it wasn’t going to fly..
In other words, precedent has been absolutely consistent with regards to the court, and exectuive privilege, and until a future court, EXPANDS the role of executive privilege and how the president may use it, the 1974 SCOTUS ruling is considered to be the “De-Facto†standard in the proper use of the authority, based on 198 years of documented presidential precedent.
In other words, George W Bush, will LOSE on the matter of Executive Privilege, just like Bill Clinton did a mere 9 years ago.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pmWell duh!
Democrats want the documents the executive is claiming privilege for.
Of course we will find the Prezidont’s aktionz to be illegalz!
We w0nt Hiz Ch33ZboorgerZ!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:11 pm~np
BUSTED
Comment by Mr. President
Just like my favorite transformer doll, uh, I mean action figure. Stupid mom threw it in the trash! I could’ve fixed it if she would have bought more glue to replace the jar I ate.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pmAnd for the love of God just IGNORE Mr President!
He’s a rube hack derailing every thread he comes into.
Who gives a shit which posts are his? Who reads them anyway?
The topic is executive privilege, and Bush is going to lose, because his citings of it do not meet national security or international relations criteria already esablished over the last 200 years.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:13 pmJust When You Thought They’d Hit Bottom, Out Come the Shovels
According to the latest Gallup Poll, Congress’s approval rating has sunk to a historic low of 14%.
In order to help put that into perspective, here are a list of things that - as of this week - are now more popular than Congress:
* Fungus
* Boils
* Burnt toast
* Drunk drivers
* Drunk dialers
* DMV employees
* Personal injury lawyers
* Hangnails
* Hangovers
* Spammers
* Yipping Yorkies
* Simpsons Trivia
* Gas Prices
* Geico (among cavemen)
* Susan B. Anthony dollars
* Retaining water
* Boy Shakira
* Stepping in poo
* Blue Screen of Death
* Power outages
* Voldemort
* Nose hair
* Soap scum
* Earwigs
——————————————————————————–
On the bright side, Congress still holds a slight lead over AIDS, Hitler, and the 1/2 Hour News Hour, so there may still be hope for them.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pmNo. But they will!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm#30 & #31… I just made my five calls. Only took five minutes. Please take time off from arguing with trolls and call the Reps.
You defeat the trolls by taking action. You lose to the trolls when you waste your time engaging them, even if you win the war of words.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pmI nailed Hillary!
CLINTON DID IT TOO!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pmOf course Congress is not the one that decides on Executive Privilege. So like most things this Congress does it is meaningless and pandering to the MSM.
Maybe they should go name another Post Office after Bin Laden or Jack Murtha, same thing.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:16 pmHey, DFAL:
Visited your blog. 0 comments. Ha! You freekin’ looser! So, you have to come here and BE traffic, ’cause you can’t GET traffic! Ha! Looser! Popular position you’ve taken! Ha! (Did I mention, you are LOOSER!) Even your own ilk avoids you like tha plague!
DFAL is the laughing stock of the Blogosphere!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:19 pmMisters President,
Go someplace where somebody really gives a shit for either of you!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:21 pmNo a Federal Judge will do that jackass. But thanks for noting your contempt for our democratic form of government.
Its clear pigs like you frank, won’t be happy until America has annointed a Fuhrer.
Seig heil.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:21 pm(Did I mention, you are LOOSER!)
Looser than what?
DFAL is the laughing stock of the Blogosphere!
Comment by Marcus Aurelius
No Marc, you have that one tied down. Just like I have your mother tied down.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:23 pmYou’re dumb “clyde”. What a dumb, unintelligent name you have. Very fitting for such an unintelligent person such as yourself.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:24 pmAt this point, everyone calling themselves “Mr. President” is either a fake, or a fraud, or both.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:26 pmComment by Mr. President — July 19, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
As opposed to some dipsh*t who repeats himself?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:27 pmGood job on the spelling, though. That tutor is really paying off.
Hahah, you guys get worked up so easily!
July 19th, 2007 at 5:29 pmLooks like with only one exception, that executive privilege has been overuled in most cases. I doubt that Bush will be able to pull it off. Nixon didn’t, Clinton Didn’t, Hell even George Washington didn’t.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:31 pmHahah, you guys get worked up so easily!
Comment by Mr. President
According to your Tube Sock, it’s YOU who are easily worked up.
You really ought to have your mom wash that thing. It’s been standing on it’s own so long, it’s starting to take steps.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:32 pmThank you Larry from C for the info, the good advice and the encouragement!
Who answers the phone when you call those numbers? What did you say to them?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pmFrank J. That’s funny. I like that.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:39 pm#74 Maragaret…If you call during business hours a staffer answers. (after-hours you often get an answering machine) They are usually polite. Simply tell them you’re calling about Harriet Miers ignoring her subpoena last week and why she has yet to be charged with Contempt. Then make very clear that you want her to be charged with INHERENT CONTEMPT, not Criminal Contempt which is a brick wall that will go nowhere. Its that easy and only take a minute.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:39 pmAt this point, everyone calling themselves “Mr. President†is either a fake, or a fraud, or both.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius — July 19, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
How is that any different than it ever was?
July 19th, 2007 at 5:48 pmSo frikkin’ what? As long as Impeachment is off the table, Bush can do whatever he wants.
For example:
That’s right. If your charitable contribution gets to the wrong hands, you’ll lose your assets.
Worse, since this blocking is done in secret, so to may be the allegations that support Bush tying up your assets.
How long can any of us survive financially, with all our accounts frozen?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ news/ releases/ 2007/ 07/ 20070717-3.html
July 19th, 2007 at 5:50 pmName the place and time.
Comment by Marcus Aurelius
Your mom’s house
July 19th, 2007 at 6:03 pmDay after tomorrow.
#80 Yes BNF…I believe you’re talking about the Executive Order Bush signed on July 17. I’m listening to Thom Hartmann right now and he’s discussing it.
July 19th, 2007 at 6:15 pm#80 The man Thom Hartmann is interviewing is Paul Craig Roberts. Here’s the article he’s discusssing.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ articles/ july2007/ 170707Impeach.htm
Mr. Roberts’ best line in the interview: He said (paraphrase)…You don’t think the Republicans would be falling in line behind an unpopular President and imploding their party if they weren’t assured something SOMETHING was coming down the pike to save them.
***Damn good point!
July 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pmMarcus Aurelius - as you have guessed, the Trolls are punks, now picture in your mind the biggest loser you can imagine, you know I mean like some one so vile that dogs can’t stand them, someone disliked by everyone that has ever met them. These are those people, they are so disliked in real life that they take out their frustration on the blogs because in real life they would get their ass kicked.
Hope that helps, and by the way, don’t bother reading their posts, look to see who posted and then skip over it.
July 19th, 2007 at 6:43 pmDid the House Judiciary subcommittee suddenly replace the Courts? I don’t think so.
Comment by DFAL
Did the EXECUTIVE BRANCH suddenly replace the Courts? I THINK SO.
Treasonously yours and in hell for my Iran/Contra TREASON,
Traitor Ronnie and my Master Satan
July 19th, 2007 at 6:51 pmOK, then what’s the next step for the subcommittee??
July 19th, 2007 at 6:54 pm“According to the latest Gallup Poll, Congress’s approval rating has sunk to a historic low of 14%.”
Comment by Frank J — July 19, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Link, please. My link says the latest Gallup poll shows 24% approval.
http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm
Furthermore, the most recent Harris poll shows 21% approval for the Congressional Repubs, and 31% approval for the Congressional Dems. Retire that 14% figure the trolls love so much, unless you can back it up.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:41 pmOf course Congress is not the one that decides on Executive Privilege. So like most things this Congress does it is meaningless and pandering to the MSM.
Comment by Frank J — July 19, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
I’d be very surprised if the MSM even mentions this.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:04 pmRetire that 14% figure the trolls love so much, unless you can back it up.
Comment by missmolly
Good golly, missmolly, don’t blame Frank he can’t read. He probably went to a school like Regent.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:43 pmSo like most things this Congress does it is meaningless and pandering to the MSM.
Comment by Frank J
Pandering to the MSM??? WTF??? You can say alot of bad things about Congress (and even more about Bush - far, far more more) but sadly, this comment, like most of the ones you post, makes NO sense whatsoever.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:45 pm“You defeat the trolls by taking action. You lose to the trolls when you waste your time engaging them, even if you win the war of words.
Comment by Larry from C “
It’s nice to know that there is still one intelligent person left on this site. This is what I have been saying for a long time. Engaging with the trolls just allows them to disrupt this site and eventually take it over. They are perilously close to having total control of this site right now. Why? Because there are so many people here who get their ego boosts by knocking the trolls. If you truly want to get back at the trolls, just ignore them. They will not be able to stand that and eventually they will leave. Hopefully that happens before all the intelligent thinking people leave first.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:33 pmTroll Killah. Go back to your D&D. Fantasy is NOT reality. You couldn’t kick Dennis Kucinich’s ass (no offense to Denny, he gets the good tail).
July 19th, 2007 at 10:52 pm“the White House participated in false statements to Congress.â€
What!? The Bush White House caught lying, misleading, and purposefully spreading falsehoods?
And their prevarications were meant to cover their own misdeeds!?
I am shocked -SHOCKED- I tell ya!
July 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pmdoesn’t matter because bush has the judges to rule in his favor.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:11 amAnd if you read a more clued-up blog than this one you might be talking about Bush committing a felony in regard to the same matter rather that just claiming a privilege that doesn’t apply.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:21 amBut you don’t. So you’re not.
I’m just shocked. Shocked I tell ya.