Dick is claiming he is not part of the executive branch.

[guartz]

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2007 ... ecutiv.php

I'm sure you've heard about this by now. According to a letter sent by Rep. Henry Waxman to the Vice President, Cheney's office has for the last 4 years refused to allow routine office inspections regarding the handling of classified documents from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), claiming not to be a part of the executive branch. A long excerpt from that letter below the fold:

In2004, the Archives notified your office that it would conduct an on-site inspection of the Office of the Vice President, as authorized by the executive order. According to the National Archives, your staff blocked this inspection. Your office informed the Archives that it was not bound by the executive order applicable to all other executive branch entities and therefore would not permit the Archives to conduct an inspection of the procedures and facilities used by the Office of the Vice President to safeguard classified national security information.

In 2001 and 2002, your office had provided the National Archives with data on its classification and declassification activities, as required by the executive order. Your office ceased to provide this information in 2003, and has refused to provide it in each year since. No rationale for this change in policy was provided to the Archives at that time.

In June 2006, the Director of the lnformation Security Oversight Office, J. William Leonard, wrote to your Chief of Staff, David Addington, to contest your claim that the Office of the Vice President is not subject to the President's executive order. According to Mr. Leonard's letter, your position was that your office "does not believe it is included in the definition of 'agency' as set forth in the Order" and "does not consider itself an 'entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information."'...

Mr. Leonard also argued that a consideration of 'þolicy implications" supported the position that the order applies to the Office of the Vice President. According to Mr. Leonard: "If the OVP is not considered an entity within the executive branch, I am concerned that this could impede access to classified information by OVP staff in that such access would be considered a disclosure outside the executive branch."

That last part is quite important. If the Office of the Vice President is not an entity within the executive branch (what on earth else could it be?) then that means Cheney doesn't get to claim executive privilege. Yet he does. He went all the way to the Supreme Court asserting executive privilege to withhold the identities of his energy task force. Indeed, if he seriously wants to assert that his office is not an entity of the executive branch, the implications are vast and he isn't going to like all of them. It's just a textbook situation of rank hypocrisy and making whatever argument is necessary to defend his current whims, consistency and rationality be damned.

Here's another thing I think this situation demonstrates: how weak Bush is compared to Cheney in terms of who's really in control of White House policy. Bush's office complies with the law and the inspections. His office does not make such absurd claims, only the VP does. According to several reports, Bush's legal counsel has made clear that the VP's office is wrong. Bush could, and should, simply order the VP's office to comply with the law. The fact that he doesn't tells you where the real power lies, or at the very least, how reluctant Bush is to reign in Cheney.

I love Orin Kerr's post about this at Volokh. He links to an article about it but says it's from The Onion. That gives you some idea just how ridiculous Cheney's argument is; it's so ridiculous that one could mistake it for a parody.

Heh, he wants all the authority of the executive branch but none of the responsibility. God I want him in jail so badly.

[skurlover]

Wait so, you post about "stupid Americans" and a link from a "science" blog and expect to have any credibility?

EDIT: Henry Waxman is involved, I guess that makes it all better.

[guartz]

Wait so, you post about "stupid Americans" and a link from a "science" blog and expect to have any credibility?

EDIT: Henry Waxman is involved, I guess that makes it all better.

here ya go http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06 ... documents/

[Xavier]

I believe it was in the NYTimes, but I think I read that he wants to abolish the national archives agency now.

[Senoska]

Amazing.

[Halleberry]

This is fucking ridiculous, why the hell haven't these guys been impeached or atleast held accountable for some of the shit they have smeared all over the world. I swear, Chenney should go down in history as one of the best business men in the history of the world. this muthafucker is freaking pimping america/ns for his own pockets.

[skurlover]

This is fucking ridiculous, why the hell haven't these guys been impeached or atleast held accountable for some of the shit they have smeared all over the world. I swear, Chenney should go down in history as one of the best business men in the history of the world. this muthafucker is freaking pimping america/ns for his own pockets.

Hi2u every president before him. Never heard of the Clinton's $10,000 monthly mortgage on their NY home? Whereas due to being ex-president they have Secret Service detail for life. They built a small guest house on the grounds to house the agents. Anyone want to guess what they charge the U.S. government for rent there?

[finale23]

can someone please give cheney and bush a blowjob already

[Halleberry]

Well do doubt that almost all people of power have abused it through the years, but really this administration has broken some records, atleast for current history.