White House privilege claim ruled ‘not legally valid.’

[kpete]

Chairwoman Sánchez Rules Against Invocation of Executive Privilege
July 19th, 2007 by Jesse Lee
Today the Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law met to consider the executive privilege claims asserted by White House Counsel in response to the subpoena for the production of documents issued to Joshua Bolten, White House Chief of Staff or appropriate custodian of records.

Chairwoman Linda Sánchez’s ruling:


Ruling on White House Executive Privilege Claims

We have received letters from White House Counsel Fred Fielding on June 28 and July 9 refusing to produce documents concerning our U.S. Attorney investigation that were called for in our June 13 subpoena to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, and further refusing to even provide the necessary information to explain his purported executive privilege claim. On July 17, Chairman Conyers and I again wrote to Mr. Fielding, notified him we would formally consider those privilege claims today, and again urged compliance with the June 13 subpoena.

Let me say at the outset that Congress certainly recognizes and appreciate the fact that, in appropriate circumstances, a President may need to assert executive privilege over White House information. We therefore take executive privilege claims seriously, and treat them with the careful consideration we believe is appropriate. In this case, we have given the White House’s privilege claims careful consideration, and the Chair is prepared to rule that those claims are not legally valid and that Joshua Bolten of the White House is required pursuant to subpoena to produce the documents called for.


................


For all the foregoing reasons, I hereby rule that the refusal of Joshua Bolten of the White House to comply with the June 13 subpoena and produce documents as directed cannot be properly justified on executive privilege grounds and that Mr. Bolten is legally required to produce these documents.

These reasons are without prejudice to one another and to any other defects that may after further examination be found to exist in the asserted privilege.


more at:
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=607

[MissWaverly]

1. Justice is coming to the USA

[ClayZ]

6. Its coming from the sorrow on the street

Leonard Cohen "Democracy"

Its coming through a hole in the air
]from those nights in tiananmen square
Its coming from the feel
That it aint exactly real
Or its real, but it aint exactly there
]from the wars against disorder
]from the sirens night and day
]from the fires of the homeless
]from the ashes of the gay
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

Its coming through a crack in the wall
On a visionary flood of alcohol
]from the staggering account
Of the sermon on the mount
Which I dont pretend to understand at all
Its coming from the silence
On the dock of the bay
]from the brave, the bold, the battered
Heart of chevrolet
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

Its coming from the sorrow on the street
The holy places where the races meet
]from the homicidal bitchin
That goes down in every kitchen
To determine who will serve and who will eat
]from the wells of disappointment
Where the women kneel to pray
For the grace of God in the desert here
And the desert far away
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

Chorus
Sail on, sail on
O mighty ship of state!
To the shores of need
Past the reefs of greed
Through the squalls of hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on...

Its coming to america first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
Its here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And its here they got the spiritual thirst
Its here the familys broken
And its here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

Its coming from the women and the men
O baby, well be making love again
Well be going down so deep
That the rivers going to weep
And the mountains going to shout amen!
Its coming like the tidal flood
Beneath the lunar sway
Imperial, mysterious
In amorous array
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

Chorus

Im sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I cant stand the scene
And Im neither left or right
Im just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But Im stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
Im junk but Im still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the u.s.a.

[MissWaverly]

11. Bravo, I can feel it, it's like the light before the dawn

It's coming, it will be here soon, the rule of law, habeus corpus, the America we remember with pride.

[Jackpine Radical]

16. I'm not confident that you're seeing the light before the dawn.

I think it may be a nuclear explosion over the horizon.

[MissWaverly]

32. no, I think that people are waking up from their sleep

reason is beginning to replace post 9-11 hysteria, and people now want to know why, I think their chance is past for nukes in their
global adventures.

[papau]

12. Nope - Bush just ruled that the Dept of Justice/DAs may not persue contempt charges against Admin.

n/t

[The Doctor.]

28. Right, so they are left with "inherent contempt"... good. nt

[MissWaverly]

33. he rules a lot of things, doesn't mean it's real

just like his blanket executive privilege with no accountability, ain't part of the constitution.

[pepperbear]

2. from the K to the R! n/t

[malaise]

3. K & R

Cut all funds to the Executive Branch. Wake up Dems.

[stirlingsliver]

4. Bolton Will Be In Contempt of Congress

Bolton will be in contempt of congress if he doesn't hand over the documents!

Sweeet!

[LiberalFighter]

5. They need to provide the consequences of those refusing the subpoenas

[rndmprsn]

7. K+R

[spanone]

8. naw, they will force it to the supreme court who will rule in thier favor

:hurts:

[jelly]

20. What would they gain from such precedent?

I am holding out for the possibility that even the most biased conservative judge would think twice before setting precedent of that nature, given that in all likelihood, in two years a democrat will take over the WH, and would wield the same power Bush now claims for himself.

[GreenCommie]

31. Exactly

In that case, those who support it now will bitch like hell about the legality of the program they propped up.

I see this as a precedent for a "I claim executive priveledge. You may not have any documentation of what I'm doing, or how I arrive at anything. You will have to trust that I am making the right decisions," slide into an out in the open, so to speak, dictatorship.

[Supersedeas]

9. Long life the rule of law.

[blondeatlast]

10. The WH is spoiling for this to go to SCOTUS.

We, the People, and Congress, as our servants, must NOT let it get to those activist judges on SCOTUS.

[bdamomma]

13. yup, I am afraid this is what they are doing the same SC

who put them in will give a pass to this awful dictatorship.

[Toots]

14. Democrats need to wake up to the fact that the Law is only what Bush* says it is

We no longer live under the Constitution. It was incremental but Democrats allowed it to be swept aside piece by piece year by year until now the damn pot is so boiling hot our frogs can't jump out of it..We're cooked..game over...close the doors and go home..Bush* has stated Congress is no longer necessary...

[Jackpine Radical]

15. I think you're right.

And this story is apparently geting no TV coverage whatsoever, so the public at large hasn't a clue of what just happened.

[Vilis Veritas]

17. So what time do we meet at the barricades?

Anyone?

Silent night, fascist night,
Bush has come, Bush is right
Round up the ignorant Mother and child
Shackles and chains when they get wild
sleep in consumer bliss
sleep in consumer bliss

[montanto]

18. This is what the second ammendment is for. n/t

[Vilis Veritas]

22. I hope everyone here knows that I am referring to PEACEFUL...

protest. And I am not advocating anything else.

Peace.

[jahyarain]

25. there will NEVER be Peace

unless we revolt. and, yeah, i'll say it, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

[Vilis Veritas]

27. There might be a small flaw in your reasoning...nt

[agent46]

29. Isn't it getting late?

"And I will see all of you on the barricades."

~Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

[BrainGlutton]

19. Of course, Sanchez is not a judge, so her "ruling" is only a position statement.

[whistle]

21. Produce the documents now Mr. Bolten or go to jail!

:bounce: :kick: :applause: :woohoo: :wtf:

[DutchLiberal]

23. So, please explain to me what they will do when Bolten continues to refuse to comply

I'm not good at this 'technical' stuff. I guess most people have trouble following cases like this one. What will Congress do if Bolten won't comply anyway?

[Sherman A1]

24. Precisely

My question. This is going nowhere in my opinion.

:argh:

[DutchLiberal]

26. Of course it's going nowhere

You know that, when most Europeans think Of the Bush administration, they think about the lies about wmd, the Iraq-9/11-Al Qu'aida connection, misleading the UN, invading Iraq etc. They are also upset about Guántanamo Bay.

Only sometimes some people also heard something about outing a CIA spy. Oh, and there was something with wiretapping... But the firing of eight (nine?) attorney's? Harriet Miers? Monica Goodling? Subpoenas? Contempt? All those -and many other- constitutional battles are not known over here.

People over here think Bush and Cheney are criminals, but they never understand the scope of the crimes; the crimes they committed against their own country, their own people, their own laws, their own Constitution. Somehow I can't tell them how often the WH has spitted in the face of Congress and the people. It's simply too much and too absurd to wrap your head around it, let alone passing the stories.

[Kurovski]

30. K&R. (nt)