The chairman doth protest too much

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SignOnSanDiego.com

The chairman doth protest too much

June 16, 2005

F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., hails from Menomonee Falls, Wis., where beer-scented easterly breezes tell you his 5th Congressional District lies near Milwaukee. In personality, however, the man seems a closer match for another of his state's prime products. Many colleagues think Sensenbrenner the ideal ad for Wisconsin cheese.

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Friday is a day when many members of Congress are eager to get out of Washington and back to their districts. Not the most propitious time, we'd suppose, for hearings on so volatile a matter as renewing the 3-year-old – and still highly contentious – Patriot Act. But Chairman Sensenbrenner designated this day to hear opposition witnesses. First on the list was to be Joseph W. "Chip" Pitts III, a Stanford law professor and board chairman of Amnesty International USA.

Some hearings can seem pretty dull. Not this one. According to The Associated Press, tempers flared when Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., accused Amnesty International of endangering the lives of Americans in uniform. For reasons unknown, Sensenbrenner banged his gavel, admonishing the witness not to respond. When New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler pressed an objection, the chairman ordered the congressman's microphone shut off. Shouting above the gavel's din, Nadler persisted in raising not a point of order, but what he termed "a point of decency." With that, Sensenbrenner scooped up his papers and, gavel in hand, strode from the room.

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With time to rethink matters, Sensenbrenner could yet come to his senses – at least to acknowledge that committee gavels do not carry the mystical authority of King Arthur's Excalibur. And that voting majorities on Capitol Hill are something less than a license for one-party rule. This is still America.

This Patriot Act became law within a matter of days after the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy. Few, if any members of House or Senate had read it in full before the vote was called. Can it be thought inappropriate to examine the document with greater care as Congress takes up the question of renewal?.. But with some noteworthy exceptions. Like Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a key member of Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees. Says he: "The outrage of Guantanamo is one reason the United States is losing the image war around the world." And Arizona's John McCain, whose own POW experience makes him the Senate's most credible authority on torture. McCain has been striving two years to see a rule of law established for as-yet uncharged war prisoners. Or even first-term Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, who asks "What about the cost-benefit ratio?" Now there's a question every Republican is trained to understand.

Van Deerlin represented a San Diego County district in Congress for 18 years.


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[Cha]

1. Great article,

Lional Van Deerlin!

Wisconsin Cheesehead indeed!