Yesterday, the New York Times noted that Senate Democrats hope to send a message to the White House with a narrow confirmation victory for Samuel Alito. “Democrats said a close vote would warn President Bush not to name such conservative judges,” the Times reported. I’m not quite sure if I understand the logic of this […]
I’m not one to buy into conspiracy theories, but the timing of this nomination is a little odd. President Bush on Wednesday nominated one of the Justice Department’s lead prosecutors in the Jack Abramoff corruption probe to a U.S. District Court seat in New Jersey. Noel Hillman, chief of the department’s public integrity section, was […]
Just to follow up on the last post, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the Bush administration’s defense against the charge that it rejects the same legal standard now that it embraced in 2002. …Justice Department officials disagreed, saying the standard the department opposed in 2002 is legally different from the one used by […]
In defending Bush’s warrantless-search program, the White House has come up with a variety of angles, but one principal legal rationale: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has a high, “probable cause” standard for obtaining a warrant. So high, in fact, that FISA became overly restrictive — intelligence officials had a specific target in mind, […]
I mentioned last week that MSNBC’s Chris Matthews told his national television audience that the terrorist responsible for 9/11 “sounds like an over the top Michael Moore here, if not a Michael Moore.” The ensuing flap, generated almost entirely by progressive blogs, wasn’t about Matthews and Moore so much as it was about liberals who […]
Clearly, TV preacher Pat Robertson, after a series of controversies stemming from imbalanced public remarks, is persona non grata in most sensible circles. More and more, the evangelical community isn’t returning his calls, and a political figure of any significance knows it would be foolish to be seen with Robertson right now. And yet, when […]
This may be of limited interest outside the poli sci crowd, but the WaPo’s Ruth Marcus touched on one of my favorite topics today: the fact that Bush hates Congress. [In a nutshell,] this executive branch treats its supposedly equal partner: as an annoying impediment to the real work of government. It provides information to […]
In its continuing quest to debate the president’s warrantless-search program without actually addressing the substance of the controversy, the White House released another campaign-style “Setting the Record Straight” document yesterday. This time, the issue was “domestic spying” — not the policy, mind you, but the wording. This comes directly from the talking points, with emphasis […]
Late last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales published a white paper for Congress, detailing his legal defense of Bush’s warrantless-search program. Predictably, it emphasized the president’s broad authority over national security matters. As it happens, however, it may have helped to further highlight just how expansive a view the administration is taking. A footnote in […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) may not be as popular as he once was, but he remains competitive looking ahead to his re-election campaign. A new Rasmussen poll shows Schwarzenegger leading State Treasurer […]