“This Is About the Law”: Via Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Last night, George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley delivered some refreshing straight-talk on the Rachel Maddow Show. Noting that conducting a criminal investigation into the authorization of torture and abuse of detainees by Bush administration officials is not only about values but is about enforcing the law, the good professor called for the appointment of a special prosecutor — just like we did:

When we talk about values, the most important one is that the president has to enforce the laws. He can‘t pick and choose who would be popular to prosecute.

… He should be appointing a special prosecutor. There is no question about that. This is the most well-defined and publicly known crime I have seen in my lifetime. There is no debate about it. There is no ambiguity. It is well known. [ Read more ... ]

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The outrageous offenses against Richard Cheney Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald :

(updated below - Update II - Update III)

Over the weekend, Dick Cheney -- at John King's prodding -- accused Barack Obama of, among other things, lying to the public about his proposed domestic policies, taking advantage of the financial crisis to foist enlarged government on unsuspecting citizens, and leaving us all more vulnerable to slaughter by the Terrorists.   When asked about those comments, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said:  "I guess Rush Limbaugh was busy, so they trotted out the next most popular member of the Republican cabal. . .  . Not taking economic advice from Dick Cheney might be the best possible outcome of yesterday's interview."

Some reporters are horrified that Dick Cheney would be spoken of with such disrespect.  CBS' Chip Reid immediately objected (and the video conveys even more than the words how offended he was):

Can I ask you, when you referred to the former Vice President, that was a really hard-hitting, kind of sarcastic response you had. This is a former Vice President of the United States. Is that the attitude -- is that the sanctioned tone toward the former Vice President of the United States from this White House now?

Cheney: Obama Should Think Twice About Changing Terror Policies - Via Threat Level:

Vice President Dick Cheney said in a radio interview this week that President-elect Barack Obama should think twice about changing or eliminating the terrorist surveillance program and other programs the Bush Administration put in place after 9/11.

Continuing his media exit tour, Cheney was interviewed in his office by CBS Radio correspondent Mark Knoller on Wednesday. He told Knoller that before Obama takes any action against the Terrorist Surveillance Program or prisoner interrogation methods, he needs to "find out precisely what it is we did and how we did it." [ Read more ... ]

Prostitution vs. war crimes: The real moral offense: Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald

In October, the extremely pro-war, neoconservative New York Sun ceased operations, and its journalists are now finding a warm and welcoming home, appropriately and revealingly enough, at The New Republic.  Sun reporter Eli Lake was quickly hired as a TNR Contributing Editor (where he now "exposes" and excoriates "the Left" for its sinister "solidarity" with "Islamic supremacist insurgents" in Iraq, such as shoe-throwing reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi), and yesterday, TNR published a finger-wagging sermon by former Sun reporter Jacob Gershman, who vigorously objects that Eliot Spitzer is allowed to appear in public and even write a Slate column so soon after exposure of his grave and monumental sin of hiring adult prostitutes. [ Read more ... ]

Rove's IT Guru Warned of Sabotage Before Fatal Plane Crash; Was Set to Testify: Via t r u t h o u t | by: Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Mike Connell, Karl Rove's chief IT consultant who, was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio, died in a plane crash last Friday. Mike Connell, the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove, reportedly asked for protective custody from the government before he died.

    Amy Goodman: A top Republican internet strategist who was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio has died in a plane crash. Mike Connell was the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove and created websites for the Bush and McCain electoral campaigns. He also set up the official Ohio state election website reporting the 2004 presidential election returns.

    Connell was reportedly an experienced pilot. He died instantly Friday night when his private plane crashed in a residential neighborhood near Akron, Ohio. [ Read more ... ]

Bush Data Threatens to Overload Archives: Via NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — The National Archives has put into effect an emergency plan to handle electronic records from the Bush White House amid growing doubts about whether its new $144 million computer system can cope with the vast quantities of digital data it will receive when President Bush leaves office on Jan. 20.

The technical challenge was an inevitable result of the explosion in cybercommunications, which will make the electronic record of the Bush years about 50 times as large as that left by the Clinton White House in 2001, archives officials estimate. The collection will include top-secret e-mail tracing plans for the Iraq war as well as scenes from the likes of Barney Cam 2008, a White House video featuring the first pet.

Under federal law, the government has “complete ownership, possession and control” of presidential and vice-presidential records. The moment Mr. Bush leaves office, the National Archives becomes legally responsible for “the custody, control and preservation” of the records. [ Read more ... ]

White House Memo - After 8 Years, Bush and Cheney Let Differences Show: Via NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have been unusually talkative in recent weeks, sharing candid thoughts in a string of exit interviews. But after eight years of a tight partnership that gave Mr. Cheney powerful influence inside the White House, the two are sounding strikingly different notes as they leave office, especially on one of the most fundamental issues of their tenure: their aggressive response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. [ Read more ... ]

Editorial - The World According to Cheney: Via NYTimes.com

Vice President Dick Cheney has a parting message for Americans: They should quit whining about all the things he and President Bush did to undermine the rule of law, erode the balance of powers between the White House and Congress, abuse prisoners and spy illegally on Americans. After all, he said, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln did worse than that.

So Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush managed to stop short of repeating two of the most outrageous abuses of power in American history — Roosevelt’s decision to force Japanese-Americans into camps and Lincoln’s declaration of martial law to silence his critics? That’s not exactly a lofty standard of behavior.

Then again, it must be exhausting to rewrite history as much as Mr. Cheney has done in a series of exit interviews where he has made those comments. It seems as if everything went just great in the Bush years. [ Read more ... ]

Cheney says top congressional Democrats complicit in spying: Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald

(updated below - Update II)

Dick Cheney's interview yesterday with Fox's Chris Wallace was filled with significant claims, but certainly among the most significant was his detailed narration of how the administration, and Cheney personally, told numerous Democratic Congressional leaders -- repeatedly and in detail -- about the NSA warrantless eavesdropping program.  And, according to Cheney, every one of those Democrats -- every last one -- not only urged its continuation, but insisted that it be kept secret:  [ Read more ... ]

Editorial Observer - Democratic Pressure on Obama to Restore the Rule of Law - NYTimes.com: Via NYTimes.com

In a Senate hearing room in September, weeks before Barack Obama won the election, a series of law professors, lawyers and civil libertarians outlined one of the biggest challenges that will be facing the next president: bringing the United States government back under the rule of law.

Over the past eight years, they testified, American legal traditions have been degraded in areas ranging from domestic spying to government secrecy. The damage that has been done by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others is so grave that just assessing it will be an enormous task. Repairing it will be even more enormous.

This was not a new complaint. Civil liberties advocates have been sounding the alarm for years. The difference now is that a Democrat is about to assume the presidency, and one of the most ardent defenders of civil liberties in his party — Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin — is dedicated to putting the restoration of the rule of law on the agenda of the incoming government, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. [ Read more ... ]

EFF Sues NSA, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance-UPDATED - Via EFF.org Updates:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records. The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance.

The lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA, is aimed at ending the NSA's dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA. [ Read more ... ]

TELECONFERENCE TODAY at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT: EFF Sues NSA, President Bush, and VP Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance - Via EFF.org Updates:

Toll-Free Dial-In for Reporters: 1-800-894-5910; title "EFF Call"

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records.

The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance. [ Read more ... ]

New Details of Official Dissent in Spying Scandal - Via EFF.org Updates:

A new book containing explosive details about the NSA's illegal spying program hits stores today. Barton Gellman's "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency," excerpted in the Washington Post in two parts (1 & 2), brings to light new information about the warrantless wiretapping scandal and the role played by the most powerful vice president in history. [ Read more ... ]

What illegal "things" was the government doing in 2001-2004? - Via Salon: Glenn Greenwald:

For the second consecutive day, The Washington Post has published an excerpt from reporter Barton Gellman's new book on the Cheney Vice Presidency, and it provides still more details on the intense confrontation in March, 2004 between the Bush Justice Department and the Cheney-led White House over the DOJ's refusal to certify the legality of the NSA's domestic spying activities. As has been known ever since Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified before the Senate in May, 2007, all of the top-level DOJ officials -- including Attorney General John Ashcroft, Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller -- told President Bush they would resign immediately because Bush ordered the NSA surveillance program to continue even after his own Justice Department told him it was patently illegal. Comey drafted his resignation letter, calling Bush's spying activities "an apocalyptic situation" because he had "been asked to be a part of something that is fundamentally wrong." [ Read more ... ]

Bush Wonders: What's the Big Deal? - Via ACLU Blog:

In the introduction to their book, Administration of Torture, ACLU attorneys Amrit Singh and Jameel Jaffer quote President Bush:

"Let me make very clear the position of my government and our country. We do not condone torture. I have never ordered torture. I will never order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a part of our soul and our being."

Flash forward to this past week, when ABC News revealed that orders to torture prisoners arrested in the so-called "war on terror" came from the very top of the Bush administration cabinet. On Friday, in an interview with ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Bush said of the news:

…[Y]es, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved. I don't know what's new about that; I'm not so sure what's so startling about that.

Cheney trying to block video taped depositions in the Denver/Secret Service case - Via Crooks and Liars:

Cheney has been trying to hide from this case for a while now:

The office of Vice President Dick Cheney is seeking to block the release of videotaped depositions given by two aides who witnessed a physical encounter between an Iraq war opponent and Cheney.

In a motion filed Saturday, Cheney’s office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides called to testify about the encounter in a civil lawsuit.

The motion for a protective order expressed particular concern that both aides’ faces could wind up on YouTube.com. The plaintiff, Steven Howards of Golden, is suing Secret Service agents who arrested him after he approached Cheney at a Beaver Creek mall in 2006 and told the vice president his policies in Iraq were “disgusting.”

Eagle County prosecutors dismissed a criminal charge of harassment filed against Howards.

[ Read more ... ]

Senate Set to Re-Up Bush Warrantless Spying Powers in U.S. - Via Threat Level:

The Senate is set to revisit the legislation permanently granting the government's spies a free hand to unilaterally wiretap American telecom facilities and services and give immunity to the government's corporate partners in its warrantless wiretapping program, as Senate leaders and President Bush hope to push the measure through a typically slow legislative process by February 1.

That's the day that the controversial Protect America Act expires, leaving the nation's spooks without a tool to order new wiretaps on American soil without actually getting a court order from a special court.

The contours of the battle seemed not to have changed since the last skirmish in December, despite the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-like opposition by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) that won a month's reprieve for anti-immunity forces. [ Read more ... ]

Cheney’s ‘remarkable’ fourth-branch argument - Via Crooks and Liars:

There was a great scandal over the summer, with a bizarre fight between the White House and the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, a fairly obscure federal office responsible for supervising the handling of classified information. After having complied with the rules in 2001 and 2002, Dick Cheney decided he no longer wanted to cooperate, and exempted himself from ISOO oversight.

When the VP refused to even acknowledge the agency’s requests for information, the ISOO went to the Attorney General’s office, asking if Cheney’s office had the legal authority to exempt itself from the executive branch. Alberto Gonzales not only ignored the questions, Cheney and his team responded by trying to eliminate the Information Security Oversight Office from existence. [ Read more ... ]

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations - New York Times: WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — When the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures. [ Read more ... ]

Notes Detail Pressure on Ashcroft Over Spying: WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 — Notes taken by Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I. say that Attorney General John Ashcroft was “barely articulate,” “feeble” and “clearly stressed” shortly after a hospital-room meeting in March 2004 in which two top White House aides tried to persuade him to sign an extension for eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.

Mr. Mueller’s notes, based on a visit to Mr. Ashcroft’s room and released Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee, provide a fuller picture of the events surrounding a March 10, 2004, confrontation over the surveillance program. They go beyond the account that Mr. Mueller gave the committee in July and reinforce an account by James B. Comey, the former deputy attorney general who testified in May.

In providing corroboration for Mr. Comey’s version of events, Mr. Mueller’s typewritten entries served to rebut the suggestion of some Bush administration officials who have privately dismissed Mr. Comey’s account of the hospital standoff as an overwrought and one-sided description. [ Read more ... ]

Bush and Cheney's tortured secrecy: "Can the White House win a constitutional showdown with Congress over executive privilege after shredding the nation's trust?

The Bush administration, already arguably the most aggressive advocate of unchecked executive power in the history of the American presidency, has done it again. President Bush has defied a congressional subpoena for testimony and documents related to his politically and legally suspect firing of a group of U.S. attorneys. Invoking "executive privilege," Bush directed two former White House employees -- Sara Taylor, who was his political director, and Harriet Miers, who was his White House counsel -- not to testify about any "White House consideration, deliberations or communications" on the matter. [ Read more ... ]