The Green Ribbon

‘No kings in America’, court rules – George appeals

U.S. district Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in a ruling on the NSA’s warrantless surveillance programme:

The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself.

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all "inherent powers" must derive from that Constitution. (The Nation)

Naturally, the Bush adminstration is appealing the ruling.

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TomGriffin

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2 responses to “‘No kings in America’, court rules – George appeals”

  1. Daniel O'Donnell avatar
    Daniel O’Donnell

    George Bush’s own Attorney General has apparently invoked the old English concept of “the King can do no wrong” with regards to protecting the President and the US Environmental Protection Agency from whistleblowers.
    http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=743
    The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or cleanup failures.
    Citing an “unpublished opinion of the [Attorney General’s] Office of Legal Counsel,” the Secretary of Labor’s Administrative Review Board has ruled federal employees may no longer pursue whistleblower claims under the Clean Water Act. The opinion invoked the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity which is based on the old English legal maxim that “The King Can Do No Wrong.” It is an absolute defense to any legal action unless the “sovereign” consents to be sued.

    Reply
  2. Tom Griffin avatar
    Tom Griffin

    Sometimes I wonder if anyone in the Bush administration has actually read the declaration of independence.

    Reply

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