Cheney asserts independent power from Bush.

Vice President Cheney signed on to a brief filed by a majority of Congress yesterday that urged the Supreme Court to declare Washington D.C.’s handgun ban is unconstitutional, “breaking with his own administration’s official position.” The administration has called for the Supreme Court to return the case to lower courts for further review:

In order to make his dramatic break with the administration, Cheney invoked his rarely used status as part of Congress, joining the brief as “President of the United States Senate, Richard B. Cheney.” It is a position he has used at times to make the point that he is sometimes part of the legislative branch and sometimes part of the executive.

“Lawyers with long experience at the court could not recall another case in which a vice president took a position different from that of his own administration.” To my knowledge, I don’t recollect it ever happening before,” said Richard Lazarus, co-director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown Law Center.