All the president's privileged men

[Dover]

All the president's privileged men
Moves to subpoena Karl Rove and colleagues look likely to cause constitutional deadlock.
Sanford Levinson
Guardian

March 22, 2007 2:30 PM |

The US seems to be gearing up for another constitutional imbroglio, if not a full-scale crisis. Democratic majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate appear insistent on subpoenaing the testimony of several White House officials with regard to the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of eight US attorneys.

Was the dismissal provoked by rank political considerations, including anger at their refusal to use (and abuse) the law against Democratic party antagonists? Or, as the administration originally suggested, were they in fact not very competent?

Suspicions about the administration's story have certainly been generated by the apparent presence in the decision-making process of Karl Rove, widely regarded as the eminence grise of the Bush White House. Democrats are no doubt salivating at the prospect of Rove's being compelled to publicly testify under oath. And one can be just as sure that the administration will do whatever it can to forestall this.

Congress generally possesses subpoena authority, especially when overseeing the operations of the executive. The supreme court has created a doctrine of "executive privilege", which allows the president to prevent testimony of some of his associates when the subject matter would presumptively impinge too much on the acknowledged interest of the president's being able to consult with subordinates without fear of ensuing publicity via compelled testimony...cont'd

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sanford_levinson/2007/03/rove_and_subpoenas.html

[fooj]

1. Karl Rove is a POLITICAL ADVISOR.

He shouldn't even have an office in OUR WHITE HOUSE let alone be protected by "executive privilege"...

[Demeter]

2. And He Better Not Get a Taxpayer-Financed Paycheck, Either!

[fooj]

3. He does, doesn't he?

At least that's what I thought.

[LSparkle]

4. Absolutely!

Someone recently said that this would be the equivalent of having James Carville testify during the Clinton Administaton -- did Carville even work at the White House? I could swear he stayed in the private sector (maybe working for the DNC) and didn't take a WH job after Clinton's election. I'm almost certain he worked on political campaigns in the U.K. and Canada rather than go to work for Clinton after election. Yes, George S. and DeeDee Myers and Paul Begala got WH gigs but I don't think the "political brain" Carville did ... ??

On edit: Yes, he served as "senior political advisor" to Pres. Clinton, but I don't think he was there the entire 8 years ...