Ray McGovern: The Constitution: Checking a Would-Be King [View All]

[cal04]

Who can forget the chutzpah of President George W. Bush as he bragged to Bob Woodward, “I’m commander in chief.... That’s the interesting thing about being president...I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”

* * *

Wrong, Mr. President. You and Vice President Cheney seem to have missed “Constitution 101.” And you seem to have laughed off admonitions against hiring lawyers eager to give an obsequious nihil obstat to whatever you want to do. You have allowed the likes of David Addington, Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo to do what Sen. Chuck Hagel (R, Nebraska) has accused you and your advisers of doing regarding Iraq—“making it up as they go along.” It’s enough to make one conclude that Shakespeare may have been right about lawyers.

Mr. President, you just can’t keep making things up—things like “unitary executive,” and “unlawful combatant,” and “military tribunals” and “enhanced interrogation techniques.” You cannot make-believe them into law. These faux-legal constructs are now coming home to roost.

Contrary to what you have been quoted as saying, the U.S. Constitution is not just another piece of paper. Indeed, it seems to be getting a new lease on life these days. This week you and your lawyers ran into a tough judge who takes the Constitution very seriously indeed and shows no sign of bending with the prevailing winds.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0819-29.htm