Durbin: Cheney 'Way Beyond' the Constitution

Also, Palin resignation 'surprised' McCain; she 'did not call me'
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2009 10:46 AM CDT

The revelation that Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to withhold information from Congress “absolutely” warrants an investigation, Sen. Dick Durbin said today. “To give the president unbridled authority goes way beyond the United States Constitution,” Durbin told This Week. Over on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John Cornyn agreed Congress should have proper oversight, but criticized Democrats for trying to “out” Cheney and provide “political cover” for Nancy Pelosi.

Caught between sex scandals and tomorrow's Sotomayor hearings, Republicans dominated the headlines from the Sunday talkers today:

  • Sen. Judd Gregg accused Democrats of “basically undermining efforts to collect intelligence” on State of the Union, saying they are turning the CIA into a “whipping boy.”
  • John McCain told Meet the Press he doesn't support a potential Justice Department probe into torture, and said he was surprised by Sarah Palin's resignation "because she did not call me."
  • Cornyn said Senate Republicans will be careful in their questioning of Sonia Sotomayor during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But the Texas senator, whose constituency is one-third Hispanic, vowed to examine whether Sotomayor has an “ethnicity focus.”
  • Rep. Eric Cantor conceded the personal scandals of philandering Republicans Mark Sanford and John Ensign were “not good,” but added that the GOP is “not just about personalities. It’s about ideas.”
(More Dick Durbin stories.)

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