Specter’s letter to Cheney

Arlen Specter (chairman of the Judiciary Committee) is apparently fed up with the King’s President’s blatant disregard for the Constitution (remember the Constitution?). It’s nice to see somebody trying to keep the old checks-and-balances thing alive. Kudos to Specter for looking out for democracy.

A few quotes from the letter (which, incidentally, is address to Cheney not Bush):

We press this issue in the context of repeated stances by the Administration on expansion of Article II power, frequently at the expense of Congress’s Article I authority. There are the Presidential signing statements where the President seeks to cherry-pick which parts of the statute he will follow. There has been the refusal of the Department of Justice to provide the necessary clearances to permit its Office of Professional Responsibility to determine the propriety of the legal advice given by the Department of Justice on the electronic surveillance program. There is the recent Executive Branch search and seizure of Congressman Jefferson’s office. There are recent and repeated assertions by the Department of Justice that it has the authority to criminally prosecute newspapers and reporters under highly questionable criminal statutes.

All of this is occurring in the context where the Administration is continuing warrant less wiretaps in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and is preventing the Senate Judiciary Committee from carrying out its constitutional responsibility for Congressional oversight on constitutional issues.

And these guys are on the same team.