Analysis
Privilege at Stake With Nominees
Bush Aims to Reassert Presidential Power in Debate Over Roberts, Bolton
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The principle at stake is one that has been a source of friction over the limits of presidential power since George Washington. Under President Bill Clinton, multiple clashes with Congress, the judiciary and independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr chipped away at attorney-client and executive privileges on sensitive documents and conversations. But since coming to power, Bush has doggedly reclaimed turf that eroded under Clinton, asserting the power of his office to shield everything from energy policy deliberations to the papers of past presidents.
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Starr, for instance, regularly rejected privilege claims during the Whitewater and Monica S. Lewinsky investigations. But in the Roberts case, the White House cites a letter signed by all living former solicitors general opposing disclosure of internal working papers from that office -- including Starr, who held that post under President George H.W. Bush and was Roberts's supervisor.
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Regardless of who was to blame, Bush and Vice President Cheney came to office convinced that the presidency had been weakened under Clinton and resolved to reverse that trend. In October 2001, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft sent a memo instructing agencies to be more cautious in releasing data under the Freedom of Information Act. A few weeks after that, Bush signed an executive order allowing either the White House or former presidents to block release of their presidential papers.
Bush's determination to reinvigorate presidential power led to some of his tenure's most notable disputes. He refused to turn over information stemming from an energy task force led by Cheney in 2001, triggering a long legal fight that ended in victory for Bush in May when a federal appeals court threw out lawsuits challenging the confidentiality policy. Bush likewise refused to give the Senate papers related to appellate court nominee Miguel A. Estrada's service in the solicitor general's office. Rather than turn over the papers, Bush allowed the nomination to be withdrawn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/01/AR2005080101546.htmlIOKIYAR