Now This is a Step in the Right Direction

Today the House Committee on the Judiciary Majority issued a staff report entitled "REINING IN THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush". I know there are those who feel we should be looking forward and not back, but doing nothing all but ensures that the excesses and the incompetence of the Bush administration will be repeated. And that is unacceptable.

This report is 486 pages long and contains 1,689 footnotes! No, I am not going to read the whole thing, but in just a quick glance I spotted this:

The Bush Administration’s approach to power is, at its core, little more than a restatement of Mr. Nixon’s famous rationalization of presidential misdeeds: “When the president does it, that means it’s not illegal.” Under this view, laws that forbid torturing or degrading prisoners cannot constrain the president because, if the president ordered such acts as Commander in Chief, “that means it’s not illegal.” Under this view, it is not the courts that decide the reach of the law – it is the president – and neither the judiciary nor Congress can constrain him. And where statutory law or the Constitution itself appear to impose obstacles to presidential whim, creative counselors can be relied upon to reach whatever result the president desires.

That pretty much sums it up, don't you think?

Onward to January 20th!

(Link to the report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/10323716/Reining-in-the-Imperial-Presidency)