Dishing, But Not Taking
The legislative branch seems to feel that it has the inherent authority to oversee the executive's exercise of his duties as commander-in-chief, especially when it comes to intelligence programs -- Exhibit A is the Hoekstra letter. Nor do legislators seem particularly troubled by judicial interference in the President's execution of his commander-in-chief duties (of all the outrage expressed over Hamden, precious few legislators condemned the judicial meddling itself).
But how differently legislators react when the shoe is on the other foot! Righteous bipartisan anger erupted on the Hill when the Justice Department searched Rep. William Jefferson's office, even though the search was pursuant to a validly executed warrant.
And now, the legality of the search has been upheld. That won't make the legislators happy -- they seem OK with inter-branch interference when they're "overseeing" the executive, but not so much when the executive branch shows up to prosecute one of them.
But how differently legislators react when the shoe is on the other foot! Righteous bipartisan anger erupted on the Hill when the Justice Department searched Rep. William Jefferson's office, even though the search was pursuant to a validly executed warrant.
And now, the legality of the search has been upheld. That won't make the legislators happy -- they seem OK with inter-branch interference when they're "overseeing" the executive, but not so much when the executive branch shows up to prosecute one of them.
posted by LadybugUSA at 6:11 PM
3 Comments:
Carol, do you find it at all odd that the Justice Department chose Jefferson's office to invade instead of, say, Tom DeLay's, or Duke Cunningham's, or Bob Ney, or...?
Why are you such a sycophant of Bush? It is very unseemly. Does your husband mind?
Thanks, Pete. The fact is I don't care one whit about Jefferson's office; if he's corrupt, which it appears he is, then haul him off to the slammer.
It would be nice, though, if the Justice Department had been as concerned over the influence-peddling scheme that was being run out of the former House Majority Leader's office.
And it would be nice if Congress grew a pair and did more than throw a faux tantrum now and then.
I'm perfectly fine with the three branches of government testing their boundaries. That's what keeps each branch in check. Personally, I'd like to see Congress attempt to exercise a little more control over the Judiciary.
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