Getting Tough
06/29/2007
Editorial
Rutland Herald Sen. Patrick Leahy is
locked in a constitutional showdown with President Bush over Bush's
refusal to release documents in two separate controversies under
investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bush has
refused to provide the committee with documents related to domestic
spying by the National Security Agency and to the firing of U.S.
attorneys. These matters involve serious breaches of the public trust
and potential violations of the Constitution.
Leahy's committee
and its counterpart in the House had requested documents in these
questions, but the administration refused. The committees then voted to
authorize the chairmen to subpoena the documents. Finally, Leahy issued
the subpoenas, and Bush has refused to comply. He also subpoenaed Vice
President Cheney and other officials and former officials, including
Harriet Miers, former White House counsel.
Subpoenas carry risks
for both sides. The court could rule against Bush, causing further
embarrassment in the long-drawn-out scandals. Or it could rule against
Congress, establishing precedents protecting the secrecy of the
administration.
The conduct of the Bush administration has made
the subpoenas a necessary tool in helping Congress to get answers from
officials whose penchant for secrecy has allowed them to carry out
policies of dubious legality without accountability. In the case of the
fired prosecutors, the administration has still not provided answers,
after hours of testimony, about who ordered the prosecutors fired and
why. The untruthful and evasive testimony of Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales suggests the existence of larger secrets.
There have
been hints about what those secrets might be, including the admission
by one Justice Department official, Monica Goodling, that she used
inappropriate political criteria in hiring decisions, and a record
suggesting prosecutors were pressured to make political prosecutions.
The administration has been engaged in a Watergate-style cover-up, and
Leahy has called them on their pattern of stonewalling.
The case
of domestic spying has revealed its own bizarre, backroom huggermugger
and false testimony. It turns out that White House operatives tried to
ram the spy program past then Attorney General John Ashcroft as he lay
convalescing on his hospital bed.
Efforts to get testimony from
Vice President Cheney present Leahy with an interesting challenge. As a
recent series of articles in The Washington Post has revealed, Cheney
has had a hidden hand in a wide range of domestic and foreign policy
decisions, and yet he has exercised his influence with unprecedented
secrecy. One imagines Cheney's response to Leahy's subpoena. It might
be something like, "Over my dead body." Or it might be something like
the snarling vulgarity Cheney famously directed at Leahy on the Senate
floor.
Gradually, Congress is subjecting the Bush administration
to a dose of political reality. The reality is that our system of
government is not a monarchy. The executive does not operate unchecked.
It has a responsibility to share information, even about sensitive
topics, and Congress has a responsibility to exercise oversight that
forces accountability by the executive.
Leahy, as Sen. Sam Ervin
did a generation ago, is taking part in a historic constitutional
drama. Vermonters are looking to him to remain steadfast during this
battle, as are Americans everywhere who value the rule of law. Link to article
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