Executive Privilege

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June 2009
- As With Bush, Obama Won't Release WH Visitors List
  
  MSNBC | Jun 16, 09 10:27 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Despite President Obama’s promise of transparency, the administration is blocking requests for the White House visitors list, MSNBC reports, defying two federal court rulings that the lists are public record. In addition to denying MSNBC’s request for a list of all visitors since Jan. 20, the Secret Service turned down a nonpartisan watchdog group’s request for records of visits by coal executives. More »
May 2009
- Top Court Candidates Differ Widely on Exec Power
  
  New York Times | May 25, 09 4:53 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Most Supreme Court watchers say that Barack Obama's choice to succeed David Souter will change little, since the retiring justice was a reliable member of the court's liberal bloc. But on critical questions of presidential power, which Souter regularly sought to check, the new justice's vote could be crucial. Obama's top court candidates have wifely differing views about the role of the executive, reports the New York Times . More »
February 2009
- Obama Could Expose Secrets of the Bush Years
  
  Politico | Feb 10, 09 9:19 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Good government groups spent years suing and lobbying to expose the Bush administration’s secrets. Will President Obama spill the beans on his predecessor? Politico outlines major secrets Obama can choose to air or keep: US attorney firings: Claiming executive privilege, Karl Rove refused to testify. But Rove has been re-subpoenaed, and Obama may get to make the final choice. More »
January 2009
- Obamas Inherit Sweet Record Stash
  
  Rolling Stone | Jan 29, 09 1:15 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - President Obama’s new digs not only grant him access to chefs and a bowling alley, but an LP stash that includes Led Zeppelin IV and the Ramones’ Rocket to Russia , Rolling Stone reports. Banished to the basement during the Reagan years, the White House vinyl vault contains Obama favorites including Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks . More »
- Obama Could Be Most Powerful President Ever
  
  Washington Post | Jan 20, 09 8:42 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama enters office today with a realistic shot of becoming one of the most powerful presidents in history, writes Barton Gellman in the Washington Post . Historians and officials in the outgoing and incoming administrations agree the presidency is already at or near an apex of power, and Obama’s popularity, combined with the many crises he faces, could push his authority yet higher. More »
December 2008
- Deep Throat Made Newspapers 'Cool'
  
  Washington Post | Dec 20, 08 1:10 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Mark Felt's life inspires an appreciation of a heroic man, but also of the romance and significance of journalism, Hank Stuever writes in the Washington Post . In fact, you could say “that the idea of him had died already, a few years ago, when he allowed the world to know who he was,” Stuever writes. But Deep Throat lives on in the dreams of every young journalist, in “the swagger of it all.” More »
November 2008
- Bush Could Block Probes Even After He Steps Down
  
  New York Times | Nov 13, 08 5:34 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - President Bush may be able to maintain his executive privilege to block investigations even after he leaves office, the New York Times reports. Harry Truman successfully claimed he had the right not to testify in 1953, nearly a year after he left office, and Richard Nixon later used Truman's case as a precedent. Experts believe Bush will revive the claim if subpoenaed by any of the congressional committees probing alleged misdeeds during his administration. More »
September 2008
- Mukasey Taps Prosecutor for Attorney Firings Case
  
  Reuters | Sep 29, 08 1:08 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Michael Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor today to look into the attorney firing scandal today, Reuters reports, after an internal investigation came up empty-handed. Many top witnesses, such as Karl Rove, didn’t cooperate, but could now be subpoenaed by Connecticut prosecutor Nora Dannehy. More »
- No Charges in US Attorney Firings: Report
  
  New York Times | Sep 29, 08 9:23 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Justice Department probe of the firings of a group of US attorneys is ending without recommending charges against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or anyone else, the New York Times reports. The investigators' report, to be released today, is nonetheless said to be scathing on the politically motivated firings, and to recommend that a prosecutor look into the role of lawmakers and the White House. More »
July 2008
- 'Creative' Bush Order Shields Cheney from Plame Probe
  
  Newsweek | Jul 17, 08 3:07 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - President Bush has invoked an unprecedented executive privilege claim to bar FBI interviews with Dick Cheney from a congressional committee probing the leak that exposed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, Newsweek reports. The Bush order argues that turning over the records of Cheney's grilling concerning the scandal would violate the president's right to confidential communication with his advisers. More »
- Lawmakers Make Much of Karl Rove's Empty Seat
  
  Washington Post | Jul 11, 08 6:27 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Karl Rove ignored a subpoena ordering him to appear before a House committee probing alleged abuses of power in the Justice Department yesterday—and the committee didn't let that get in their way. Lawmakers printed a name card for Rove, pointed a mike at an empty chair, fetched a cool glass of water for the absent Bush strategist, and disparaged his absence freely, reports Dana Millbank in the Washington Post. More »
April 2008
- Executive Privilege Goes to Court
  
  Mother Jones | Apr 25, 08 9:48 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The civil suit brought by Congress as it investigates the 2005-06 firings of US attorneys is becoming a groundbreaking constitutional tussle that could decide the true scope of executive privilege. The precedent that could be set in the ruling from a US district court is now more significant than the truth behind the firings, Mother Jones reports. More »
March 2008
- House Sues Bush Aides Over Subpoenas
  
  Washington Post | Mar 10, 08 6:40 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Lawmakers sued two top Bush aides today to make them testify about the sacking of federal prosecutors in 2006. The House Judiciary Committee suit seeks to enforce subpoenas against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former Bush counsel Harriet Miers, who have refused to testify or supply subpoenaed papers. "We will not allow the administration to steamroll Congress," one lawmaker said. More »
- Mukasey Nixes Bush Aides Contempt Case
  
  Reuters | Mar 1, 08 5:12 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A showdown over executive privilege got more likely yesterday when Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he wouldn't pursue contempt charges against two Bush aides, Reuters reports. Mukasey rejected the request from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to refer the case to a grand jury, arguing that they had committed no crime by refusing to testify to Congress about the controversial firing of 9 US prosecutors. More »
February 2008
- House Holds 2 Bush Aides in Contempt
  
  Associated Press | Feb 14, 08 5:18 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The House voted today to hold two Bush insiders guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate in last year's US attorneys scandal, the AP reports. Angry Republicans boycotted the vote and walked out in protest. Democrats censured chief of staff Josh Bolten and former Bush counsel Harriet Miers for ignoring congressional subpoenas into whether prosecutors were fired for political reasons. More »
- Judge Allows Private Group to Quiz White House Techs
  
  Associated Press | Feb 12, 08 1:05 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - As part of the investigation of millions of missing White House emails, a private group can examine the records of the office charged with preserving communications, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The judge made it clear that letting any private group look into White House affairs was highly unusual and the group would have access to only a "very limited" amount of information, the AP reports. More »
January 2008
- 473 Days of White House Emails Missing
  
  Washington Post | Jan 18, 08 3:53 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - An internal White House study found that email messages weren't archived for hundreds of days between 2003 and 2005, the Washington Post reports. The disclosure follows the White House admission that administrators recycled back-up tapes for the first three years of Bush's presidency, possibly losing millions of emails during a time that included vital communication leading up to the war in Iraq. More »
- 2007's Biggest White House Whoppers
  
  Slate | Jan 1, 08 4:10 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - In her second annual roundup of the Bush administration's most egregious legal arguments, Dahlia Lithwick of Slate offers her top 10 doozies: The United States does not torture State-secrets privilege used to shield almost anything. Almost anything Alberto Gonzales said. The nine US attorneys were fired for cause. Anyone who talks to the president is barred from congressional testimony by executive privilege. More »
December 2007
- Committee Votes to Hold Rove, Bolten in Contempt
  
  Associated Press | Dec 13, 07 12:37 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to hold Karl Rove and Josh Bolten in contempt today, the AP reports, for ignoring subpoenas on the US attorneys scandal. The White House, however, says the citations will likely die on the Senate floor. “I vote knowing that it’s highly likely to be a meaningless act,” Sen. Arlen Specter said. “In this context, we have no alternative.” More »
November 2007
- Bush Can't Protect Rove, Senator Says
  
  Associated Press | Nov 29, 07 1:21 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - President Bush’s attempts to protect Karl Rove from testifying about the firings of US attorneys were shot down today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, meaning Rove will likely face contempt charges unless he complies with congressional subpoenas, the Associated Press reports. Bush had cited executive privilege, which protects advisers, but Bush had no hand in the firings, the committee ruled. More »