Judiciary Committee Releases Negative Report on Bush Administration

by Deb Cupples |  Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee publicly released a most unflattering  report about alleged abuses of the Bush Administration.  For history's sake, it's good that someone has done it.  The executive summary states, in part, the following:

"This Report has been prepared at the direction of Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary.  It was drafted to itemize and document the various abuses that occurred during the Bush Administration relating to the Committee’s review and jurisdiction, and to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations to prevent the recurrence of these or similar abuses in the future....

"The Report begins with a preface titled “Deconstructing the Imperial Presidency,” which
describes and critiques the key war power memos that gave rise to the concept of broad-based, unreviewable, and secret presidential powers in time of war.  These legal theories, many of which took seed shortly after September 11, 2001, rely on breathtaking assertions regarding the nature and scope of the so-called “global war on terror,” such as those set forth in an October 23, 2001, memorandum concluding that the president may order extensive military operations inside the United States.  As the Report documents, these theories were relied on time and again in numerous other contexts by the Bush Administration over the next seven and one half years. 

"The next five sections of the Report describe specific abuses of the Imperial Presidency
relating to Judiciary Committee inquiries. 

"Section 1, “Politicization of the Department of Justice,” describes the Committee’s U.S. Attorneys investigation and concerns relating to the politicization of the Civil Rights Division in general and the Voting Rights Division in particular.  Even as this report is being released, the Justice Department’s Offices of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility have released a report further documenting politicized hiring and politicized decision-making in the Division. 

"Section 2, “Assault on Individual Liberties,” broadly details Bush Administration policies relating to detention, enhanced interrogation, extraordinary rendition, ghosting and black sites, warrantless domestic surveillance, and the issuance of national security and exigent letters.

"Section 3, “Misuse of Executive Branch Authority,” describes concerns relating to signing statements and misuse of regulatory authorities. 

"Section 4, “Retribution against Critics,” details the facts ascertained relating to the
outing of former intelligence agent Valerie Plame Wilson, and other instances of improper
retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics. 

"Section 5, “Government in the Shadows,” describes multifaceted efforts of the Bush Administration to avoid accountability and culpability through a variety of legal techniques, including broad and unprecedented assertions of executive privilege, withholding testimony and information without formal assertion of privilege, extraordinary assertions of state secrets, broad uses of classification authorities, and unduly narrow construction of the Freedom of Information Act, as well as manipulation of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War.  Each of these sections includes a comprehensive set of findings detailing specific legal and factual conclusions drawn from the review.

"Section 6 of the Report sets forth a comprehensive set of 47 policy recommendations
designed to respond to the abuses and excesses of the Bush Imperial Presidency.  The list begins with three major threshold recommendations: ..." (Paragraph breaks added)

You can read the recommendations and the rest of the report here. As usual, Memeorandum has commentary.  H/T to Firedoglake for posting the link.