Bush Administration Will Argue For Secrecy in Cheney Case
by TChris
The Bush administration is hostile to traditional notions of oversight and accountability. TalkLeft has called attention -- most recently, here, here and here -- to the administration's efforts to persuade the Supreme Court that it should be able to detain both citizens and non-citizens indefinitely, without access to courts or lawyers and without judicial oversight, so long as the President thinks it is in the interest of national security to do so.
On Tuesday, the administration will again appear before the Supreme Court to argue against oversight -- this time, against both Congressional and judicial oversight of its duty to disclose the identities of persons outside the government who advised Dick Cheney's energy task force in 2001. The administration claims the Federal Advisory Committee Act that requires such discloslures doesn't apply to Cheney's task force, but argues that even if the law applies, it unconstitutionally intereferes with the President's ability to formulate proposed legislation.
So much for checks and balances. As those arguing against the administration point out, requiring an administration to disclose its outside advisors promotes open government -- a goal that might interfere with a desire for secrecy, but that doesn't inhibit the President's ability to craft legislative proposals.
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