Scott Horton provides an over-arching schema for the troubling constitutional developments of the last few years. I’m still absorbing the post. On torture and the corruption of the justice system, Alberto Gonzales’s role in allowing the justice system to be polluted by political interests is central. The U.S. attorneys scandal is very troubling, but it is just a small part of a much larger pattern of infringement on the constitutional limits on executive power and against factional abuse. The damage is not irreparable; but it is too dangerous to be complacent about. Soon, I believe, Gonzales will be forced out, and rightly so. But what worries me is not so much where we are, and what damage has already been done, but how the existing damage has weakened the entire system of democratic governance. How confident can we be that the organs of government really are neutral with respect to party and person any more? And how comfortable do you feel living in a country where the president has the right to detain any one indefinitely without trial, and subject them to torture if he deems to appropriate?
What worries me even more is where this administration or a future one might take the country after another terror attack on the scale of 9/11. That’s why I worry about Giuliani. I may prefer him on social issues, but he would be a dangerous executive, given the presidency’s expanded powers under Bush and Cheney. The levees of the justice system have proven weak so far, and this administration has corroded them badly. Money quote from Horton:
[George] Washington made clear that he felt partisanship should not be a factor in the selection of officers of the Justice Department or judges, and that the executive should likewise avoid other displays of favoritism based on family or other association, keeping only to merit. Of course, Washington’s approach did not last long, and it would be unrealistic to imagine America in the twenty-first century returning to a standard in which involvement with political parties and their agendas is excluded. However, it is time to recognize that the pendulum has swung too far, and it is urgent that it be brought back to the center.
In the Bush presidency, we have witnessed a severe systems test of foundational principles, indeed, an effort to transform the system. At this point, the outcome remains uncertain. A few scattered newspapers and Congressional hearings will not be enough to check the sea change that Bush’s legal team has launched.
(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty.)
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