John Brennan was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden as the new director of the CIA and he did it in a way that I would ordinarily support a lot: He put his hand on the constitution rather than the Bible. But as Marcy Wheeler points out, there was some appropriate symbolism here:
Category Archive: Executive Power
Jun 21 2012
Romney: I Can Bomb Iran If I Want To
So when it comes to executive power and waging war, we have two major party candidates who both believe they can do pretty much anything they want, including bomb other countries who pose no threat to us, without bothering to get approval from Congress. Here’s Romney on Face the Nation:
Jun 21 2012
John Yoo Complains About Executive Power
John Yoo — yes, the man who said the president has the unilateral authority to order a child’s testicles crushed in order to extract information from their father — is mad as hell about Obama’s new immigration order, and he’s not gonna take it anymore.
Jan 14 2012
Badass Quote of the Day
From Adam Serwer, noting that President Obama’s recess appointments have prompted howls of outrage from both John Yoo and David Addington, each of whom otherwise believes in executive power that would make the president virtually a Roman emperor:
Jan 05 2012
ACLU Ranks Presidential Candidates
The ACLU has put out a voter guide for all the 2012 presidential candidates, ranking them all on 7 issues: humane immigration policy, closing Gitmo and indefinite detention, gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, ending torture, ending the surveillance state, same-sex marriage, and reproductive rights. Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, writes:
Jan 02 2012
Obama’s Meaningless Signing Statement
President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 into law but he attached a signing statement to it saying that he would not pursue indefinite detention for American citizens without court authorization. His apologists will not doubt claim that this is evidence of his commitment to justice and the rule of law, but …
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