WE'VE MOVED
Please note that we've moved to a new blog at www.LibraryGrape.com.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Restraining Bush's Expansion of Executive Power
I wrote a post a week or two that asked all my readers to consider which Democratic candidate for President, "Which candidate will most likely roll back President Bush's unconstitutional expansion of executive power?"
Well, I left it to you to ponder and, lo and behold, here's a new article in Reason that asks and answers the question better than I could:
Read More: I Don't Want Yoo to Show Them the WayAccording to John Yoo, the president's powers under the Constitution are so broad that the Constitution itself cannot restrain them. In a recently declassified 2003 memo, the former Justice Department official asserted that Congress, despite its Article I powers to "make rules concerning captures on land and water" and "for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces," has no business regulating the treatment of military prisoners. Yoo also cited a 2001 memo in which he had concluded that "the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations."
Compared to Yoo, all three of the remaining major-party candidates for president sound moderate when they talk about executive power. But Barack Obama is the one who seems to care most about restoring the rule of law and the separation of powers after eight years of an administration that has sorely abused both.
[snip]
Although Clinton now claims to have a modest view of presidential power, she was singing a different tune a few years ago. "I'm a strong believer in executive authority," she told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News in 2003. "I wish that, when my husband was president, people in Congress had been more willing to recognize presidential authority." With the War on Terror as a rationale, her wish could be her command.
Earlier: Obama and Clinton on Executive Power
Posted by Metavirus at 4/16/2008 02:06:00 PM
Tags: Barack Obama , Case for Obama , Election 2008 , Executive Power , Hillary Clinton , Primaries
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment