Bruce Fein in the Washington Times -- A Call To Investigate, Possibly Prosecute

[FourScore]

FEIN: The rule of law
Bruce Fein
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Commentary:

President Barack Obama promised to restore the rule of law and to prevent future wrongdoing by high-level government officials.

To honor that promise, Mr. Obama should investigate, among others, former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former White House counsel and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and former White House political adviser Karl Rove. The crimes to be investigated should include complicity in torture, illegal surveillance, illegal detention, perjury, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress. Prosecutions should follow if the evidence convinces a grand jury to indict.

SNIP

The glaring failures to prosecute many who were not deterred by the criminal law created a climate of lawlessness that moved from national security to the domestic arena. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson brazenly explained to reporter David Cho of The Washington Post his takeovers of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other Wall Street goliaths: "Even if you don't have the authorities - and frankly I didn't have the authorities for anything - if you take charge, people will follow."

Unpunished lawlessness by government officials invites lawlessness generally. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis taught in Olmstead v. United States (1928): "Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."

SNIP

Government officials implicated in waterboarding had the analysis and approval of lawyers who concluded, however wrongly, that it did not rise to the level of torture. It has been argued that if government officials cannot safely rely on legal advice, they will be paralyzed. But mistake of law has been recognized as a defense to criminal conduct at least since the 1976 decision by United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in United States v. Barker. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 similarly provides with regard to interrogation crimes that "good faith reliance on counsel" shall be a defense. The criminal law, however, would be crippled if the executive could immunize its own violations by clearly erroneous legal advice-comparable to permitting a man to be a judge in his own case.

President Obama is fully capable of simultaneously investigating or prosecuting Bush administration officials, addressing how to close Guantanamo, and grappling with the nation's economic travails. Even during the height of the Watergate investigations and prosecutions, President Nixon successfully navigated the Yom Kippur War crisis. Moreover, the Constitution saddles Congress, not the president, with responsibility for determining the treatment of "enemy combatants" during the so-called "War on Terrorism." Congress did so in the Military Commissions Act, which it can amend. Congress also holds the power of the purse. The executive is not the only branch capable of governing.


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/20/the-rule-of-law/

[4 t 4]

1. yes yes yes please

let the investigations begin.

[LiberalEsto]

2. In the Moonie Times?

Is that for real?
It's not some kind of satire?

I am absolutely dumbfounded.
But I'm extremely happy to read this.

[FourScore]

4. That is shocking. n/t

[justsomeguy1973]

3. It's about time we stop giving people a pass just b/c they leave the office

Wrong is wrong... illegal is illegal... and violations of the law should be prosecuted even if the president is no longer in office and it's not as politically advantageous to do so.

I'd love to see a real investigation into Bush/Cheney... I suspect though we're just going to find Bush had an I.Q. of 43, and Cheney is our evil mastermind.