Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.
The U.S. Constitution assigns powers to the executive branch of the federal government that are separate from those granted to the legislative and judicial branches. The separation of powers allows for a system of checks and balances so that no one branch becomes too powerful and rises above the law.
But that is what the Bush administration in effect has done by refusing to abide by subpoenas that would compel current and former White House aides to testify before Congress about the mysterious firings in 2006 of Nevada’s Daniel Bogden and eight other U.S. attorneys.
Fortunately a federal judge last week ruled that the subpoenas must be honored. That means White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, former Bush legal counsel Harriet Miers and former top adviser Karl Rove must appear before Congress. The judge rejected the administration’s argument that it had immunity from congressional subpoenas, saying there was no legal basis for that position.
No one is above the law, including current and former members of the executive branch. The Bush administration, though, refuses to believe that. It has been attempting since the president took office in 2001 to expand the powers of the executive branch by weakening legislative authority.
It should surprise no one that Bush and his cronies have fought the subpoenas; it merely reinforces their reputation as an arrogant administration with no grasp of accountability. Almost literally from the time Bush took office in 2001, his hatchet man, Vice President Dick Cheney, was conducting secret meetings with oil company executives to shape energy policy.
If it were up to the administration, it would conduct all of its affairs in secret. It practically does already.
President Bush has shown repeatedly that he has contempt for accountability and conducts business with the most secrecy we have seen in the White House since Richard Nixon. Thank goodness a judge saw through that charade and demanded that the administration follow the law.
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