Balkinization: Roberts and the Ghost of Iran-Contra

Roberts and the Ghost of Iran-Contra

The Washington Post reports that during his time in the Reagan Administration John Roberts offered advice on the establishment of the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO), an organization used by the Reagan Administration to circumvent the Boland Amendment.

For those of you who don't remember, the Boland Amendment made it illegal for U.S. intelligence agencies to provide covert funding to the contras in Nicaragua. John Poindexter and Oliver North attempted to get around this prohibition by diverting millions of dollars to the contras through a secret deal-- approved by the President-- which sold anti-tank and anti-aircraft missles to Iran. Poindexter and North then funneled the money to the contras.

The NHAO was formed within the State Department to provide what was, at least on the surface, legitimate humanitarian assistance to Nicaragua; Oliver North, however, used it to send money and supplies that the CIA couldn't send directly. Put another way, he used the NHAO as a cover for illegal covert funding for the contras in violation of federal law.

We do not know what Roberts' role was in any of this. For example, he might simply have been asked to set up the NHAO for purely humanitarian purposes and then North infilitrated and twisted the organization for his own illegal ends. If so, there's nothing in the file on the NHAO that should be problematic for Roberts. He simply did what any good lawyer would do for his client.

On the other hand, if Roberts was asked to justify circumventing the Boland Amendment in any way, he would have been a hitherto unknown part of the Iran-Contra scandal. If that were so, it would be inappropriate for someone who had participated in fomenting a serious constitutional scandal to be rewarded with a Supreme Court appointment.

The Democrats obviously want to know what is in those files; the Bush Adminstration doesn't want anyone to know. At the very least the senators should ask Judge Roberts for his recollections, to the extent that he can provide them.

Posted 1:48 PM by JB [link]

Comments:

Prof. Balkin,

The article says this:

"There are three reasons the papers were withheld under federal records laws, according to Archives officials. They include preliminary judgments by archivists that information in them would improperly invade a person's privacy (such as revealing a Social Security number), jeopardize law enforcement operations or potentially harm national security.

Under the ordinary course of business, archivists black out individual words or sentences before releasing a document. In this case, National Archives official Sharon Fawcett said, the rush to release a large volume of documents quickly did not allow enough time for surgical redactions -- so the entire page was pulled.

The White House involvement in this process is unclear. Fawcett said White House officials are allowed to offer input during the review process, but she would not discuss their involvement. Senior White House officials said administration lawyers typically examine the documents after the archivists complete the initial review, and they insisted they have not asked for any papers to be withheld that archivists did not first flag."

It's not clear how this translates into "The Democrats obviously want to know what is in those files; the Bush Administration doesn't want anyone to know."

But, if one chooses to adopt that assumption, it permits one to speculate, without any foundation, that Judge Roberts might have abetted the breaking of laws while he was in the White House, as you do here.

Is there a level at which spouting this sort of innuendo seems inappropriate? Couldn't we wait until something more damning than this article comes out before raising the specter of participation in a major scandal?

# posted by

T. More : 9:59 PM

It is extremely unlikley these documents would contain information which would invade personal privacy. It is also quite unlikely that any law enforcement information would be contained in the documents, and extremely unlikely, given their age, that such information would be of sufficient import to justify even considering withholding them. That leaves only the last -- national security. This is, at last, a plausible possibility. Given the lapse of time and the large anmout of publicly available information on the topic, however, it would be somewhat difficult (but not impossible) to make out such a case. The documents are material to activities which were plainly illegal and created a serious constitutional crisis. Furthermore, absent a showing that these particular documents are voluminous, it is difficult to see a good faith basis for continuing to withhold them. Indeed, the context suggests that whatever the motivations and intentions of the initial decision to withhold the documents, continued withholding is not justified. Thus, the inference that Judge Roberts may have had involvement in serious illegal conduct is neither unreasonable nor illicit. As ther is no suggestion in the post that Judge Roberts had any involvment in the treatement of the documents, your suggestion that the post casts aspersions on Judge Roberts is erroneous. On its face it concerns action by othr political actors. There is no "spouting" innuendo involved.

# posted by

T. Gracchus : 1:52 PM

"We do not know what Roberts' role was in any of this. [...]He simply did what any good lawyer would do for his client."

the banality of evil?

# posted by

ECS : 9:25 PM

Prof. Balkin-

I was wondering when a syllabus or first class assignment for the Information Society might be forthcoming. Also, I'm really looking forward to the class.

# posted by

washerdreyer : 12:41 AM

I nice blog I have one too Horse racing tips galorehorse racing diary

# posted by

harvey : 9:12 PM

You have a great blog here! I will be sure to book mark you. I have a nebraska lawyer site. It pretty much covers nebraska lawyer related stuff. Check it out if you get time :-)

# posted by

hiro : 6:04 PM

Hi,

I'm sorry for being intrusive in to your blog. But I am Melissa and I am a mother of two that is just trying to get out of an incredible financial debt. See my hubby is away in Iraq trying to protect this great country that we live in, and I am at home with our two kids telling bill collectors please be patiant. When my husband returns from war we will beable to catch up on our payments. We have already had are 2001 Ford repossessed from the bank, and are now down to a 83 buick that is rusted from front to back and the heater don't work, and tire tax is due in November.

I'm not asking for your pitty because we got our ownselfs into this mess but we would love you and thank you in our prayers if you would just keep this link on your blog for others to view.

God Bless You.

Melissa K. W.
To see my family view this page. My Family

Learn How To Create Your Own Custom Income Generating System.

Welcome to AdWordEqualizer / Ad Word Equalizer Finds The Most Profitable Search Terms And Products For You!

Get Paid to Take Online Surveys!

# posted by

nope : 1:41 AM

.

Yahoo News - Oct. 13, 2005

Yahoo Japan steps up mobile content distribution (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Yahoo Japan Corp. said on Thursday it had launched a mobile content distribution service, in which cellphone users can buy games, ring tones, news and other entertainment and information from 59 content providers.

Microsoft, Yahoo to link instant messages (USATODAY.com via Yahoo! News)
Microsoft and Yahoo will make their instant-messaging programs work together, a partnership that could give the companies more power to compete against market leader America Online. The companies expect the service to start by June 2006.

Yahoo to Bar Minor-Adult Sex Chat Rooms (Washington Post)
NEW YORK -- Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday it will bar chat rooms that promote sex between minors and adults and restrict all chat rooms to users 18 and older.

Today's News From & About Yahoo

Delivered by Infopage.cc: 30,000 daily updated Information Pages about all kind of subjects

Have a nice day,

jeepee

# posted by

cc Infopage : 1:16 AM

Very cool blog you got! I just added you to my bookmarks!

I have a great article resource you might want to check out.

# posted by

Kingypoo : 8:20 AM

Hi Found you while blog surfing I have a blog too about horse racing stop by some time betfair Not a related site but may be of interest

# posted by

Horse Sense : 5:11 AM

Cool blog you have. I have a money gram related site. Check it out if you get a chance. The URL is money gram

# posted by

Swingin80 : 8:37 AM

Hey, you have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to bookmark you!

I have a Horse Racing and Sports site. It pretty much covers very related stuff to you.

Come and check it out if you get time :-)

# posted by

Betfair Bettor : 3:39 PM

I just came across your blog about forex trading platform and wanted to drop you a
note telling you how impressed I was with the information you have posted here.
I have a forex trading platform site. It pretty much covers forex trading platform related stuff.
so I know what I'm talking about when I say your site is top-notch! Keep up the great work, you are providing a great resource
on the Internet here!

Thanks,
Phill

# posted by

Phill : 11:57 PM

For more in formation about illinois collection agency, check out the illinois collection agency blog.

# posted by

Linux Unix : 9:48 PM

...anyone looking for information products to sell? Check out Resell Right Products or eBook Lovers. Thanks!

# posted by

Pro Free Life : 1:05 PM

Hi, you have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to visit again! Please feel free to visit my blog too at http://rushprnews.iuplog.com, RushPRnews Daily Gazette.
My site is ** RushPRnews press release services, distribution and free web posting** . Cordially, Anne Laszlo-Howard

# posted by

rushprnews : 4:48 PM

Hi :)

You have a great blog! Keep up the great work, and I'll be sure to visit regularly.

I have a Resell Rights eBooks related site, check it out if you get some time!

Look forward to reading more of your insightful posts :)

# posted by

hassan : 2:24 AM

Life Satisfaction
by: make money now

Learn how to enjoy life and nature rather than possessions.
The next time you feel like spending money, head to your
local park where you can enjoy the warm sun, green grass,
and towering trees without spending a dime. Being happy
in life is far better than buying item after item. Having
an inner peace is better than having a house filled with
“things.” That does not mean you cannot enjoy some of the
finer things in life it just means learning how to be happy
with yourself and not “things.”

make money now

# posted by

Information Revealed : 6:10 AM

Wow, I really like this one. I have a website that talks mostly about how to make extra cash online You should check it out sometime.

# posted by

Johnjon : 8:39 AM

lol the funny thing is my dad was co owner with this earnest miller and he's my god father and i can also say hes a crook.

# posted by

lance : 12:04 AM