Reply #4: John Yoo, un-American fascist [View All]

[Mel]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/12/1626/75253
John Yoo, law professor and Bush's chief legal advisor:


UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo, who as a Justice Department lawyer was one of the Bush administration's chief legal theorists, summarized its view in his forthcoming book, "War by Other Means":

"We are used to a peacetime system in which Congress enacts the laws, the president enforces them, and the courts interpret them. In wartime, the gravity shifts to the executive branch.''


Huh. I didn't realize there were two Constitutions -- one for wartime, the other for peacetime. But, heck, what do I know? Thankfully, Glenn Greenwald sets things straight:


The Constitution is actually pretty clear on that score. Article I says "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States" -- Article II says the President "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" -- Article III says "the judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in . . . inferior Courts." That arrangement isn't really a side detail or something that shifts based on circumstance. It's pretty fundamental to the whole system. In fact, if you change that formula, it isn't really the American system of government anymore.</snip>