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An Imperial President? Bush Claims Right To Ignore New Law Banning Torture
Five years after President Bush joked, "If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator,” we look at the growing controversy over presidential power and how it relates to many of today’s biggest stories: the Senate ban on torture, the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, domestic surveillance and the jailing of U.S. citizens as enemy combatants. Earlier this week three influential Republicans Senators condemned Bush for claiming he has the authority to ignore a new law banning the torture of prisoners during interrogations.
Three influential Republicans Senators are condemning President Bush for claiming he has the authority to ignore a new law banning the torture of prisoners during interrogations. Bush signed the torture ban just last week. But he also quietly issued what is known as a signing statement in which he lays out his interpretation of the new law. In this document Bush declared that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. Legal experts say this means Bush believes he can waive the anti-torture restrictions. This is not sitting well with some Republican Senators, including John Warner, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
Graham told the Boston Globe, "I do not believe that any political figure in the country has the ability to set aside any law of armed conflict that we have adopted or treaties that we have ratified."
This marks the latest example of a growing divide between Congress and the White House over the extent of the president’s power. This question has factored into the debates on a number of key issues: the president’s order for the National Security Agency to conduct domestic spying operations without legally required warrants; the administration’s covert program of kidnapping wanted individuals overseas known as extraordinary rendition; the president’s policy of detaining U.S. citizens without charges claiming they are enemy combatants; and the president’s declaration that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to suspected members of Al Qaeda. Last month President Bush defended bypassing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance or FISA Court to directly order the NSA to eavesdrop on phone and email conversations inside the country.
* President Bush: "We use FISA still -- you're referring to the FISA court in your question -- of course, we use FISAs. But FISA is for long-term monitoring. What is needed in order to protect the American people is the ability to move quickly to detect. Now, having suggested this idea, I then, obviously, went to the question, is it legal to do so? I am -- I swore to uphold the laws. Do I have the legal authority to do this? And the answer is, absolutely."
Vice President Dick Cheney and others have long defended such executive power. Cheney told reporters earlier this week ""I believe in a strong, robust executive authority, and I think that the world we live in demands it."
Ever since the Sept. 11 attacks, legal experts within the Justice Department have claimed the president has near imperial powers. Shortly after the attacks Justice Department attorney John Yoo wrote that Congress could not place "limits on the president’s determinations as to any terrorist threat, the amount of military force to be used in response, or the method, timing and nature of the response." Yoo went on to write "These decisions under our Constitution, are for the president alone to make."
At the time Yoo was the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. He is now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
But on several occasions the courts have expressed reservations about the president seizing such powers.
Last year Sandra Day O’Connor said "A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens."
As for President Bush he once suggested in jest that it would be easier if he were a dictator. This is what the President-elect said five years ago during his first visit to Capitol Hill following the 2000 election.
* President Bush: “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator."
Today we are going to examine the issue of presidential powers with two guests:
* David Golove, New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues.
* Scott Horton, chairman of the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor at Columbia University.
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/06/1451239
Graham told the Boston Globe, "I do not believe that any political figure in the country has the ability to set aside any law of armed conflict that we have adopted or treaties that we have ratified."
This marks the latest example of a growing divide between Congress and the White House over the extent of the president’s power. This question has factored into the debates on a number of key issues: the president’s order for the National Security Agency to conduct domestic spying operations without legally required warrants; the administration’s covert program of kidnapping wanted individuals overseas known as extraordinary rendition; the president’s policy of detaining U.S. citizens without charges claiming they are enemy combatants; and the president’s declaration that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to suspected members of Al Qaeda. Last month President Bush defended bypassing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance or FISA Court to directly order the NSA to eavesdrop on phone and email conversations inside the country.
* President Bush: "We use FISA still -- you're referring to the FISA court in your question -- of course, we use FISAs. But FISA is for long-term monitoring. What is needed in order to protect the American people is the ability to move quickly to detect. Now, having suggested this idea, I then, obviously, went to the question, is it legal to do so? I am -- I swore to uphold the laws. Do I have the legal authority to do this? And the answer is, absolutely."
Vice President Dick Cheney and others have long defended such executive power. Cheney told reporters earlier this week ""I believe in a strong, robust executive authority, and I think that the world we live in demands it."
Ever since the Sept. 11 attacks, legal experts within the Justice Department have claimed the president has near imperial powers. Shortly after the attacks Justice Department attorney John Yoo wrote that Congress could not place "limits on the president’s determinations as to any terrorist threat, the amount of military force to be used in response, or the method, timing and nature of the response." Yoo went on to write "These decisions under our Constitution, are for the president alone to make."
At the time Yoo was the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. He is now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
But on several occasions the courts have expressed reservations about the president seizing such powers.
Last year Sandra Day O’Connor said "A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens."
As for President Bush he once suggested in jest that it would be easier if he were a dictator. This is what the President-elect said five years ago during his first visit to Capitol Hill following the 2000 election.
* President Bush: “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator."
Today we are going to examine the issue of presidential powers with two guests:
* David Golove, New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues.
* Scott Horton, chairman of the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor at Columbia University.
LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/06/1451239
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