Executive Privilege

I'm an ignorant bumpkin (today). So the White House signed off on some wrongful terminations of federal prosecutors around the country. Sucks to be in the wrong party. What's the fuss?

Wait, is the Justice Department supposed to be independent? Party-blind? Since when? Like most other agencies its leaders are appointed by the president. Sure in an ideal world the president would pick people solely on merit, but in the real world these jobs have always involved a certain measure of politics. I know some say we have a president who indulges too much in cronyism, but we gave him the reins and we can question his appointments from here to next week but that's not really criminal.

What about the fact that some of those US prosecutors were barking up trees of alleged republican corruption, and that their dismissals were a way of impeding those pursuits? Now we're talking obstruction of justice. Now we're talking criminal investigation. Well not yet. Apparently, Congress is in oversight mode and is simply gathering information to see if there might be criminal charges brought at some point. That's pretty remote from the level of criminal investigation that pierced executive privilege in U.S. v. Nixon (as in Richard) back in 1974.

Bush has asserted executive privilege and has ordered his former attorney (Harriet Miers) and former political director (Sara Taylor) not to testify about the dismissal. Both have been subpoenaed by Congress. Brave or stupid Taylor tries to please all the people by appearing for the subpoena and then refusing to answer any real questions. Miers is purportedly going to skip her session.

Should Bush be able to get away with shutting down Congressional investigations on a whim? Well I guess it's a question of law which is deliberately sketchy when it comes to executive privilege. Neither side wants to go to court but they might have to. Two incredibly potent and ambiguous powers are on the table - executive privilege vs. congressional oversight. And the decider? Well it's that third ambiguous power that nobody even talks about - judicial reluctance.