Balkinization  

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Imperial Presidency Alive and Well

JB

The newspaper accounts have not been covering this point, but nothing in the documents released yesterday repudiates the theory of the Commander-in-Chief power at the heart of the OLC torture memo. Indeed, the President's claim that he had the authority as Commander-in-Chief to "suspend" the Geneva Conventions but chose not to in certain cases, and reserved the right to suspend these obligations in the future is entirely consistent with this view.

The position Bush and other members of the Administration have been taking is that although the President may do what he likes as Commander-in-Chief, he insists that we be humane, except, of course, where national security dictates otherwise. Note that this is no concession at all: The Administration still has the power to do what it likes whenever it likes but insists that it won't use that power wrongfully.

In other words, this is just another version of "trust us."



Comments:

When Bush left his interview with the 9-11 commission he spoke of being 'impressed' by the behavior of the commissioners, as if in his humility he had granted them an audience.
This new example is more than 'trust us,' it's an attempt to offer us the freedoms already granted to us by our constitution.
It's an argument for and from monarchism.
 

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Girls have a bad habit of holding on for too long. Guys have a bad habit of
letting go too easily.
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