Civics for Senators
The recent decision by the Bush administration to request the resignations of a handful of U.S. attorneys has resulted in the Senate once again trying to usurp powers delegated specifically to the president.
U.S. attorneys are part of the Justice Department -- the executive branch -- and serve at the pleasure of the president. It was a refrain you often heard from embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the past several years. You didn't see the Senate posturing when President Bush finally asked Rumsfeld to step aside.
Now the Senate is trying to take a power the constitution gives exclusively to the president -- the naming of U.S. Attorneys (with the advice and consent of the Senate) -- and hand it over to the judicary.
A Senate panel advanced a bill Thursday to curb the Justice Department's power to replace federal prosecutors after seven forced resignations sparked accusations of political favoritism.
The Judiciary Committee voted 13-6 to send the measure to the Senate floor, where it is certain to face opposition from Republicans who oppose giving more appointment power to federal judges.
What the ... "more appointment power to federal judges"?!? Since when did judges have the power to "appoint" people to the executive branch in the first place?
U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and may be dismissed for any reason, or no reason at all. It's the process of replacement that, the bill's proponents argue, should prevent political cronyism.
Sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the measure would eliminate a provision in the antiterror Patriot Act that gave the attorney general new power to replace fired U.S. attorneys indefinitely, avoiding the Senate confirmation process.
Feinstein's bill would allow the attorney general to appoint an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days. If after that time someone had not been nominated and confirmed by the Senate, authority to appoint an interim U.S. attorney would fall to the district court.
What Feinstein's bill really does is allow the Senate to impose its own political cronyism on the executive branch. The Senate can prevent political cronyism right now by rejecting the confirmation of a "crony" U.S. attorney. This forces the Senate to act. Instead, Feinstein would like the equivalent of a pocket veto -- allowing a single Senator to remove a U.S. attorney by simply refusing to bring the confirmation up for a vote and letting 120 days pass.
Some Democrats have argued that the Bush adminstration would follow the example of their predecessor Bill Clinton (see Bill Lann Lee) and put the attorney in the job and never submit his name for confirmation. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has assured senators that that would not happen -- but instead of taking the former Texas Supreme Court justice at his word, they insist on assuming the worst.
Even if the Democrats' worst case scenario were to occur, they could go to the courts for relief.
There are things that need to be done in Washington, but the Democrats don't seem to be interested in doing anything -- at least anything constitutional.
0 comments on “Civics for Senators”
Tags
Excuse me, but I think I see the Democrats once again using the Constitution as a piss rag.
They did it under Clinton, and they seem to continue once they get their grimy little paws on the majority of anything.