Tony Snow...He coulda starred in "Flipper"
The latest volley from the White House over the US attorney sackings involves executive privilege. Firstly, as a CNN reporter pointed out, if the President hadn't been briefed on the matter of the attorney sackings, their was no communication on the matter. There was no 'privileged' communication to shield.
Secondly, Tony Snow, as well as a number of Republicans, have done such an abrupt 180 on the issue of executive privilege that I'm amazed they didn't break their necks. Let me offer you a little gem from Tony's column in 1998:
Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration. Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything. He would have a constitutional right to cover up.
Chances are that the courts will hurl such a claim out, but it will take time.
One gets the impression that Team Clinton values its survival more than most people want justice and thus will delay without qualm. But as the clock ticks, the public’s faith in Mr. Clinton will ebb away for a simple reason: Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold — the rule of law. - Tony Snow, Executive Privilege is a Dodge, 03/29/1998
This sentiment was echoed by many Republicans in their, what I thought entirely justified, criticism of Goatboy and his administration. That Republicans now whole-heartedly embrace the concept of executive privilege, for the reasons thus far enumerated by the Bush administration, is simply hypocritical.
As for going through the courts, this SCOTUS has already established legal precedent regarding this issue. In the case of United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court found that there are very definite limitations on claims of executive privilege.
The President’s need for complete candor and objectivity from advisers calls for great deference from the courts. However, when the privilege depends solely on the broad, undifferentiated claim of public interest in the confidentiality of such conversations, a confrontation with other values arises. Absent a claim of need to protect military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets, we find it difficult to accept the argument that even the very important interest in confidentiality of Presidential communications is significantly diminished by production of such material for in camera inspection with all the protection that a district court will be obliged to provide. United States v. Nixon,Section IVb, para 3
There are clearly no "military, diplomatic, or sensitive national security secrets" at stake here. In fact if, as the White House claims, the President was not briefed on this matter at all, no claim of executive privilege exists. The White House hasn't a legal leg to stand on in this matter.
