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Ten Most Retarded Administration Legal Arguments of 2007

It wouldn't be New Year's without a Top Ten List of Something from 2007. Dahlia Lithwick provides a really interesting and (unfortunately) hilarious list of the biggest whoppers the Bush Administration has passed off as a legal argument this past year. Here are a couple of highlights:

8. The vice president's office is not a part of the executive branch.

We also learned in July that over the repeated objections of the National Archives, Vice President Dick Cheney exempted his office from Executive Order 12958, designed to safeguard classified national security information. In declining such oversight in 2004, Cheney advanced the astounding legal proposition that the Office of the Vice President is not an "entity within the executive branch" and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders. When, in January 2007, the Information Security Oversight Office asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resolve the dispute, Cheney recommended the executive order be amended to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office altogether.

Frankly, I thought this item should be much closer to #1. I know it may not be the most damaging lie on the list, but in terms of sheer stupidity, it is without comparison. No vice president since Alben Barkley (there's a name I bet you have forgotten) has presided over the Senate regularly. The vice president performs his legislative duties for about five minutes every year - which is just enough time to tell Pat Leahy to go f*&^ himself. I think it is incredibly ironic that the same Administration that believes that Article II gives the president the right to do just about anything without congressional approval does not believe the VP's office falls under that article.

And, what else would you expect to be #1?

1. The United States does not torture.

First there was the 2002 torture memo. That was withdrawn. Then there was the December 2004 statement that declared torture "abhorrent." But then there was the new secret 2005 torture memo. But members of Congress were fully briefed about that. Except that they were not. There was Abu Ghraib. There were the destroyed CIA tapes. So you see, the United States does not torture. Except for when it does.

That logic is so convoluted, it eats itself. FYI, the claim that "waterboarding is not torture" also made the list. I particularly enjoyed watching Rudy Giuliani, the senior terrorism expert, in the presidential race waffle on whether that statement is true or not. Of course it is. Even a blind man without any legal training can figure this one out. I don't think this would even be an issue if we used the correct name for this procedure: simulated drowning. Waterboarding sounds like something you would watch on ESPN2 on a Tuesday afternoon.

The one argument omitted from the list that should have been included was the Bush Administration's argument in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, which eviscerated the ability of taxpayers to sue the federal government for church-state separation violations. In its brief, which became the logic for the majority opinion, the Administration argued that the Court's precedent supports the right of taxpayers to sue over congressionally appropriated funds that support religious organizations. But since the President's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is a purely executive branch creation, the precedent does not apply to this case.

When taken in context with the Bush Administration's beliefs about the Office of the Vice President, I guess this argument makes sense, depending on how many drinks you have had today.

Speaking of drinking, have a very Happy New Year! See you in 2008.

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on December 31, 2007 (boomark / email).