Will the Obama Administration Defend Karl Rove?
The president-elect may soon have to decide whether to back Bush officials who flouted congressional subpoenas.
That’s what Rove did over the summer after the committee asked him to come up to the Hill to answer questions about any role he might have played in pushing the prosecution of Alabama's former Democratic governor Don Siegelman. Critics had charged that the prosecution, which resulted in Siegelman's conviction on bribery charges, had been politically motivated and orchestrated by the White House itself. Rather than answer the committee's questions, Rove left the country. His lawyer argued that President Bush’s exercise of executive privilege gave Rove "absolute immunity" from ever testifying before Congress.
Unpersuaded, the committee voted to hold Rove in contempt of Congress. But so far, Rove has managed to get away with it. The full House dropped the contempt issue, largely because a federal appellate court had blocked the enforcement of subpoenas of two other White House staffers, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. The pair had relied on the same imperial declarations of executive privilege that Rove did. And now, all of those subpoenas, including the one issued to Rove, will expire with the end of this Congress, making the issue moot.
That doesn't mean, however, that Rove and the others are home free. House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) has said that he has every intention of reissuing the subpoenas in the new Congress, but this time, President Bush will not be around to defend his loyal aides. The new Democratic president may not have much sympathy for his predecessor’s expansive view of executive privilege. But while the incoming Obama administration may have a vested interest in facilitating a public airing of what really went down in the Bush Justice Department, getting Rove and the others up to the Hill isn’t a simple task. "Obama doesn't have the authority to just waive the privilege," explains Neil Kinkopf, a Georgia State law professor and a former Justice Department official in the Clinton administration, noting that President Bush will continue to have a say in the matter, however diminished. "The privilege belongs to the president who asserts it," he says, meaning that Bush can continue to assert executive privilege in an attempt to prevent Rove and Miers from testifying.
The subpoenas will put Obama in an awkward position. While he may have opposed Bush's view of presidential power as a candidate, it's not hard to envision a time when Obama himself may see some advantages to shielding Rahm Emmanuel and other of his close advisers from the inquiring minds of Congress. Not only that, but he may fear that refusing to back President Bush could set an unhealthy precedent that he might not want to leave for his successor.
But Obama won't be able to duck this one. On January 20, his administration will become the de facto defense counsel for Miers and Bolten. The Justice Department has been defending the White House's executive privilege claims in the lawsuit brought by the House Judiciary Committee against Miers (though Miers and Rove also have retained private attorneys) and Bolten to enforce the subpoenas. The committee had sought Miers' testimony about the dismissal of US attorneys in 2006 and had asked Bolten to turn over a log explaining which documents the White House was denying the committee as part of that request.
After negotiations with the White House broke down, the committee sued President Bush in federal court to enforce the subpoenas against Miers and Bolten. The commitee argued that Bush's assertion that anyone who'd ever worked for him was immune from answering questions from Congress, ever, was unprecedented and not supported by any existing case law. In August, the court agreed and ruled that the pair did indeed have to comply with the subpoenas. (The order was stayed on appeal, so the committee never bothered going to court over the newer Rove subpoena.)
The lawsuit against Miers and Bolten would force the courts to eventually decide whether President Bush, or any other president, has the power to keep former staffers like Rove from participating in congressional oversight hearings and for how long. It's a doozy of an issue, on which the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has thus far decided to punt. The court has been sitting on the case since October. It hasn't even scheduled arguments, presumably because the subpoenas at the heart of the case will expire on January 3, when a new Congress convenes.
Should Conyers and the Judiciary Committee reissue the subpoenas as threatened, Eric Holder, if confirmed as attorney general, will have to decide whether the new administration wants to defend the old one. Emily Berman, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice who helped draft an amicus brief in the Miers litigation supporting the Judiciary Committee, says that there may be an argument for Obama continuing to defend Miers and Bolten (and by extension Rove). The Obama administration could take the side of the Bush officials because of "some sort of moral position that these people are only in this predicament because of their public service and that they shouldn't have to incur legal fees as a result." But she doubts the Obama Justice Department would take that position, especially because at the time of the subpoena, Miers didn't even work in the White House. Berman says the courts will probably take a dim view of the position that executive privilege has such a broad reach (as they have already), and also notes that the courts have found that the privilege diminishes with time. The longer Bush is out of office, the more likely it becomes that the courts would force Rove to testify. Berman says that Rove and company have simply been trying to run out the clock on the subpoenas to avoid enduring the congressional hot seat. "To win the battle merely by delay doesn’t seem like the way our constitutional system should operate," she says.
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Shine a little light on the Bush Administration and you can see the roaches scurry for cover.
Nothing says "GUILTY" like someone that refuses to be placed under oath - and no one in the Bush administration has ever testified under oath - Not Gonzales, not Bolton, not any of them that have been before a Congressional "hearing".
The Obama Administration is on record as wanting to restore "Transparency" to the Office of the President.
I think it should start with not wanting to cover its own ass should it be required to answer subpoenas one day.
I did a little digging and I'm wrong - there has been some testimony under oath, Please forgive the comment.
As an Obama supporter, I will be very unhappy if the new administration does NOT prosecute these SOBs. It is time to rid this country of such scum, and Rove seems like the leader of this pathetic anti-constitutional outlaws. Put his behind in jail for at least 20 years.
. Berman says that Rove and company have simply been trying to run out the clock on the subpoenas to avoid enduring the congressional hot seat. "To win the battle merely by delay doesn’t seem like the way our constitutional system should operate," she says.
Have we been watching the same C-Span? I feel like every session of Congress since 2000 has been like watching the Browns somehow end up on top of the Cowboys early in the 4th and then just try to burn the clock down.
Well, I for one am tired of politicos who think that public service comes with no accountability for ethical or criminal behavior while in office or that they are not responsible for the corupt sycophants that surround them.
President elect Obama was sent to Washington with a mandate and He had better understand that. We are wathcing and will hold him responsible for any attempt to block the investigations and procecution of all of the present administrations violations of public trust.
I'm also very tired of Presidents and their staffs saying we have to do whats right for the American people. What a crock! If you want to do what is right for America; be honest and stop treating us as though we were children to be cared for...
Frankly, since the UBS scandal hasn't really gotten any of the high priced help-Phil Gramm and co., I hold little hope for any accountibility for anyone in the Bush Administration...I am also curious as to how the future pardon system works on an out going President-Can Bush just pardon himself and anyone else in his administration from any future lawsuits?
If Obama upholds the procedure of executive privilege for staff members, we can expect a totally opaque government to continue in the future. We may not see this in the Obama administration, but it will certainly be taken advantage of by someone.
The checks and balances in this country has broken down. This has happened more in the last 8 years than any other time in our young history. The executive abuses of authority MUST be stopped.
We seem as a country to have been in a trance these past few years. We have allowed the executive branch to take unilateral control of this nation. He have given up freedom, privacy, security, moral standing, etc...
This new administration needs to highlight these ills and reverse the executive orders so that these abuses will stop!
Since his election, Mr Obama has displayed an admirable spirit of bipartisanship. Try again in 2012.
Barak Obama should not allow himself and his agenda for positive change and development in America be sidestepped by the following trends:
1. Getting bogged down in wars purposely instigated by people who want to build empires and religious entities in the Middle East.
2. Wasting trillions on defending nations WHO HAVE LITERALLY APPLIED ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST THE US (with their Southern Collaborators - as we see with the refusal to bailout Detroit by the southern Confederate-conservatives who are nothing but puppets of foreign auto manufacturers and selfish traitors against the wellbeing of the American people.
3. Fair trade -- Obama should never sit back while the EAST AND NORTH are conspiring to dominate the world economy and in other ways. Obama should pay attention to the meetings taking place in East Asia, WHERE THE VULTURE WAITING FOR THE LION (THE US) TO WEAKEN IS NOW IN EFFECT.
The plight of the American economy is the direct doing of UNFAIR TRADE FROM THE EASTERN NATIONS, who flood the US with their cars and other products (and build cars in the US) while they reject American cars and products. This must be take care of.
4. A real 'bottom to top' building of the economy -- along with a 'top to bottom.' Let's use both systems.
IDEAS FOR BUILDING THE AMERICAN ECONOMY FROM THE BOTTOM UP, AND HOW THIS PROCESS HAS SUCCEEDED THROUGHOUT HISTORY:
See 'Susu and Susunomics," Ref. iuniverse dot com
'Susu Economics," Ref. authorhouse dot com
myspace dot com / sexyaabooksculture
5. Real justice in America -- states have wasted trillions of dollars on creating 'camps' for wayward youth - in some states, not a single college or technical school has been built. While the rest of the world (particularly China, Japan, Europe, Australia, African Union nations, Caribbean nations-- all invest in uplifting thier young generation-- in America, we send our young males to camps to be modern slaves -- and we expect to compete with the rest of the world.
5. Government is the solution:
The conservative-confedrates who bark and harp about government not being the solution, they are tricksters of the worst kind.
It was government that stopped the South from keeping slavery and it was government who have kept the US together since 1865. It is government who will bail out DETROIT and stop another depression to hit the Northern states BECAUSE OF THE UNGRATEFUL AND TRAITOROUS ACTIONS OF CONFEDERATE-CONSERVATIVE 'DIXIEPUBLICAN' POLITICIANS FROM THE SOUTHERN US.
6. Develop the educational system by investing in new technologies, research and development (during the 1910's Tuskegee Institute's George W Carver, a great inventor invented over 200 uses for the potato and peanut -- there are over 40 Historically Black Colleges and Universities that need help in developing scientific and technology carriculum -- there are hundreds of colleges, universities and schools all over the us who also need such help.
THE TRILLIONS USED BY STATES TO THROW PEOPLE IN CAMPS LIKE MODERN SLAVES WHERE THE PUBLIC GETS NOTHING IN RETURN, THAT MONEY SHOULD BE USED TO REBUILD THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
7. A new relationship with an emerging part of the world AFRICA -- Over the past 40 years, we have been building Asia and Europe -- today both regions are powerful due to American investment and trade (see 'Susu and Susunomics,' iuniverse dot com ), YET, WHAT DID THESE NATIONS DO TO REPAY US -- the erected trade barriers, the destroyed and copied industries like the African-American hair care and beauty supply industries; and they continue to trade unfairly and keep our products out of their nations, while having easy access to our markets.
See examples of that 'BlackhairDVD dot com )
WHEN WILL THIS TRAITORS BEHAVIOR STOP?
Judge FEDERICO MORENO has belatedly decided that ex-judge JAY SPECHLER has misused his JUDICIAL TIP JAR and filed perjurious claims ........... THE BAR has a self-regulatory scheme that allowed SPIRO AGNEW , ALBERTO GONZALEZ , ROBERT LANCE ANDREWS , Ann Lokuta, GOV.BLAGO , Otto Kerner , THOMAS SPARGO , BEVERLY COHEN , Mikiliki Hamavay , Dorki Horki , MANTON , JOHN ASHCROFT , Crooke Kennerly AND other lawyer / parasites to plunder our society under color of law ............. polygraph and drug test the lawyers and judges and place cameras in chambers to cut down on graft and PAY FOR PLAY ...... lawyers are the bagmen and traitors .
When will you liberals learn that we now have a ruling class in this country? Change? Huh???
Huffington Post has made the observation that Bush intends to pardon Cheney, then resign before January 20 and Cheney will pardon him and Rove and everyone else in jeopardy. Now I have to admit that would be a first-Probably result in a Constitutional Amendment about Presidential Pardons!
Rove should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and then sent to Gitmo to be put in with the general population. He is an evil man.
Inviting Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Barack's inaugural might be a feather in his hat (Baracks) as Ricks Ego is playing out in public when he place persons before principals he's lost it
I fear that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and other members of the Bush Regime may find themselves in great personal peril after they leave power - threatened as they will undoubtedly be by implacably hostile terrorists, harassed by merciless left-wing reporters, and worst of all, pursued by the very Hounds of Hell themselves, the ruthless investigators of the International Criminal Court.
I think that it behooves us, the American people, to do everything we can to provide the best security possible for these selfless public servants, these men and women who put everything at risk, whether they owned it or not, to try to keep this country exactly what they wanted it to be. This security cannot be a part-time thing - it should be 24/7/365 (or 366, depending), for the rest of their natural (or artificially-extended) lives.
How can we accomplish such a Herculean task, you may ask? Do we have the skilled personnel, the specialized state-of-the-art equipment, the indomitable spirit and determination that will be required? Of course we do - we’re Americans, aren’t we? Is there any task that is beyond our powers? (I mean, besides manufacturing affordable renewable-power vehicles for personal transport, or providing single-payer universal health care…)
So I propose, my fellow Americans, that - for their own good, you understand, for their own protection - we should arrange for this security to be instituted as soon as possible, at the one place where it can be provided:
ADX Florence, the Federal SUPERMAX facility in Florence, Colorado.
After all, considering everything that the men and women of the Bush Regime have done for this country, given their unique and indeed unparalleled contributions to our history, wouldn’t you agree that they deserve nothing less than the VERY best we can give them…?
Siegelman was actually convicted so no, Obama won't want to do anything about Rove. Had Siegelman not been convicted, it might be different. It would be hard to claim that Rove had done anything wrong since Siegelman was apparently guilty of what he was charged with, bribery.
more bodies to karl rove..
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031904Fitrakis/031904fitrakis.html
Obama is merely the softer side of the new world order. While it is constantly stated he raised so much money from small contributors, rarely is it mentioned that said amount was 30% of the take. The other 70% was at cats who appreciate "change" to their ways of screwing the public. No end to war, (See;"Afghanistan") no single -payer health care,(the insurance companies are going to be "affordable", which says nothing)and an all Clinton cabinet. This is from a guy who worked hard for Obama and actually believed his promises.Shame on me.
Is always boils down to "whose ox is getting gored".
To my thinking, Executive Privilege is much like 1st Amendment. Both are very good ideas, necessary to the operation of our democracy, but also open to abuse. EP needs to be vigourously defended, not for it's excesses, but for it's foundations.
As for Karl Rove, he's a symptom, not the disease. There are many more just like him on both sides of the aisle.
BTW, Please don't be too shocked when it comes to light that Karl Rove & Associates have worked for both Republicans and Democrats (even some who have publicly chastised him in the past).
My my - that's a good idea - let's go after Rove, Bush et al. What is about the left that there are constantly calls to prosecute this one or that one? You people are certainly pissed off. Of course, if its a criminal the left likes such as Jeffers etc., or even..well...Mugabee (sp?) not word. In fact, one rarely hears anything about Iran's leaders despite the all the hangings (hangings!) of homosexuals, and the repression of women. But states like Iran aren't the problem, its the United States that's repressive.
By all means let's go after everyone in the former administration - let's set a precedent, so that, should there ever come a day when a Democrat is leaving office and a Republican Congress takes over, Republicans can do the same thing to Democrat administration. Let's all fight among ourselves, that the way to do it.
It really is a pity that you brainwashed morons actually believe the nonsense put out the mainstream (and not so mainstream) media. Of course, come the revolution, all of you will be slaughtered like cattle like the "useful idiot" you are.
ObombANation is really concerned about the Poverty Stricken and under Privileged ROFL!!!! Hawaiian Vacation Retreat Illinois Home D.C. Home Highest Security Personnel in History...... He's so worried about others as much as Uncle Sam saying I don't want you!!!! Damn, where's my wallet!!! ObombANation will not do a 9/11 Investigation due to his name and especially the Clinton's names will be at the top of the List and to think Al Gore invented the Internet, ROFL!!!! Get prepared for a Heat Wave Damn, I'm freezing my Arse off could use a bit of Heat but it appears to be getting colder!!! Hope Gore is enjoying his Energy consuming Home and House Boat!!!
Matters not which Technology/Resources are used the Earth is being raped and poisoned while the Congress and Administration will Tax the Hell out of the People!!! Research resources being used for the current and future Technology and maybe you'll open your eyes to the dangers which is also breathed from invisible Automotive Exhaust!!!! Africa is and has always been on the Global Agenda of wiping out its population such as Clinton ignoring Genocide and Corporations raping its landscape and coastal areas for precious resources. Ark of the Covenant is thought to be in Africa and more talk as far as the Garden of Eden!! All a Power Play with the same results Rip the people off while secretly poisoning the Earth and Air not to mention the slave labor and lest it be forgotten The Clinton's Blood Diamonds!!! ObombANation is nothing more than a Clinton Puppet!! So much for Technology let alone Evolution!!!! It can only get worse from here on!!!
