"The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks." -- George W. Bush, annexed to the recent appropriations bill that included Sen. McCain's amendment that bans torture and sets U.S. policy concerning the use of torture.
What does Bush mean by this?
He means, "Fuck you, Congress, and fuck you, American people. I do whatever I want to do, and whatever I do is right."
Bush authored similar statements on over 100 occasions in his first term of office, basically interpreting the law or ignoring it as he saw fit, despite what the American people, through its elected representatives, desired.
I'm no great scholar, but this is not rocket science. First, when interpreting laws of the Congress, one looks to the language. The laws are sometimes written in English and pretty easy to understand ... what do the words say? If you look at the resolution allowing the President to use American forces in Iraq, which was not a declaration of war by Congress, it's not too difficult to figure out that a lot of the whereases aren't true.
Second, if the tucking words are hard to figure out, and it seems to me that Bush, Cheney, et al., have extreme difficulty understanding plain English, look to what is called the legislative history... the record of the development of the law, the various drafts, and the debate that ended in passage of the law as finally written ... to determine the intent of the lawmakers.
What the President thinks the law means is immaterial; it is the intent of Congress that is material. I found a law that covers the responsibility of the Chief Executive: [The President] shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed ... That seems pretty clear to me. Now, what law is that? That's found in the Constitution of the United States of America, Article II, Section 3. The President is choosing to ignore his duty under the Constitution.
I know the argument that the President says he can ignore Congress because he is Commander-in-Chief and he has inherent expanded "war powers." That is an interesting argument because Congress shall have power ... To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; ... To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces .... That's in the document that sets up the structure of our democracy, our representative democracy, you know, the rules that make our country what it is -- the Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 8.
At least, Nixon withdrew from Viet Nam and ended that dark period of American history. At least, Nixon opened up China to western thought and cooled tensions with the Red Chinese leadership.
At least, Nixon resigned.
Posted by Bill at January 7, 2006 11:42 PM