Conyers releases report on the imperial presidency

 --The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has released its copious report on abuses of presidential power in the administration of George W. Bush. “Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush” runs 541 pages and covers five major categories of presidential overreaching—politicization of the Justice Department, assaults on civil liberties, misuse of Executive branch authority, retribution against critics, and government secrecy. The report is authored by Majority (Democratic) staff on Judiciary. The breakdown of major abuses is preceded by an overview and followed by recommendations for future policy. (Warning: Owing to the length of the report, downloading is slow.)

Since the report is a review, and a review of material largely turned up by Judiciary in connection with previous hearings, obviously much of the material is not new. But it is lucidly presented and well organized—the more chilling. Some representative items, currently relevant and relevant for the near future:

• Politicized prosecutions. According to an extensively documented study by professors Donald Shields and Don Kragan of 820 federal cases and investigations, “during the Bush Administration, 80% of federal public corruption investigations have involved Democratic officeholders and only 14% have involved Republican officeholders.”
• The destroyed CIA videotapes involving torture. The tapes “were destroyed around November 2005, in the midst of judicial scrutiny of the CIA’s detention program, and as Congress was debating standards for interrogation practices, and insulating them from judicial review, in what became the Detainee Treatment Act.”
• Presidential signing statements. “In 2002, President Bush issued a signing statement accompanying the Sarbanes-Oxley law combating corporate fraud. The statement was read by many as attempting to narrow a provision protecting corporate whistleblowers in a way that would have left them with very little protection.”
• Revised rulemaking through executive orders. Bush Executive Order 13422 made it more difficult for federal agencies to promulgate regulations, with more likelihood of “paralysis by analysis” and more deference to “market failure.”
• Retribution against critics. When Gen. Shinseki “dared to say publicly that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to occupy Iraq,” he “was ridiculed by the administration and his career was brought to a close.” “Defense Department officials leaked the name of Shinseki’s replacement 14 months before his retirement, rendering him a lame duck commander and “embarrassing and neutralizing the Army’s top officer.”As one person who engaged in high-level planning for both wars said, “There was absolutely no debate in the normal sense. There are only six or eight of them who make the decisions, and they only talk to each other. And if you disagree with them in public, they’ll come after you, the way they did with Shinseki.”
•  Government secrecy. Under the Bush administration, the ‘state secrets’ argument/claim has been used to delay lawsuits involving warrantless wiretapping; extraordinary rendition; post-9/11 detention of U.S. citizens; and allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation by federal employees.

The Report makes a number of specific recommendations—to be discussed in a later post, owing to space and time constraints. Its three general recommendations seem virtually incontestable:

“1. The Congress and the Judiciary Committee should pursue document and witness requests pending at the end of the 110th Congress, including subpoenas, and the incoming Administration should cooperate with those requests.

2. Congress should establish a Blue Ribbon Commission or similar panel to investigate the broad range of policies of the Bush Administration that were undertaken under claims of unreviewable war powers, including detention, enhanced interrogation, ghosting and black sites, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance.

3. The Attorney General should appoint a Special Counsel, or expand the scope of the present investigation into CIA tape destruction, to determine whether there were criminal violations committed pursuant to Bush Administration policies that were undertaken under unreviewable war powers, including enhanced interrogation, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance.”

Given the weight of material produced in eight years by the previous administration, it would be difficult and destructive to seize on only one issue to address. Even the thoughtful and thorough Judiciary report is a representative overview. In regard to those U.S. Attorney firings, for instance, it is still worth bearing in mind that one of the USAs fired, Carol Lam, was not only generally well regarded but has been called the best prosecutor of public corruption cases in the country.

It is also worth bearing in mind that several hearings on torture and congressional action on the destruction of the CIA videotapes have left alive the possibility of criminal prosecution for interrogators, policymakers and the officials who destroyed the tapes.

[On a slightly personal note: Foot surgeries have slowed me down in calendar 2009. A great time for reading, less so for anything else. Two least-favorite words in the English language, for now, along with “at the end of the day,” are ‘ice’ and ‘elevate.’ An old friend of mine (guy) shared a fantasy of a foot fetishist calling up and asking ‘Are you wearing . . . tennis shoes?’ ‘Is it iced?’]