longweekend58 wrote on Jun 19
th, 2018 at 11:02pm:
NorthOfNorth wrote on Jun 19
th, 2018 at 8:16pm:
longweekend58 wrote on Jun 19
th, 2018 at 5:37pm:
NorthOfNorth wrote on Jun 19
th, 2018 at 5:28pm:
longweekend58 wrote on Jun 19
th, 2018 at 4:53pm:
except that every singe Special Counsel prior to Mueller has not had to be confirmed. It is an idiotic statement. Is it not the very point of law enforcement to be independent?
Not so idiotic...
I'm told the whole thing hinges on whether Robert Mueller is an 'inferior officer' and not subject to the appointments clause of the Constitution or whether he is a 'principal officer' and therefore subject to the clause.
It's going to be (if nothing else) the next flash-pan distraction.
PRECEDENCE is a core component of the law. There have been many Special Counsels and none have had to be confirmed - precedence. Also, Special counsel is subject to the AG and Deputy AG and therefore clearly not a principal officer in any way.
And never-mind the 'I've gotta live in this town' moral dimension!
Im not sure what you mean, but the argument that a special counsel would EVER need to be confirmed is ludicrous. What chance is there that a 60 vote majority in the senate would EVER confirm ANY special counsel? NONE.
I'm shouting out to Maher (channeling his style of humour).
He let George Will off the hook on a number of points.
Like Will's reference to Woodrow Wilson's carping about the Constitutional restrictions on a US president's powers -100 years ago - to explain the roots of Trump's own wishful ideas of usurping the constitution. Will could have referred to Roosevelt as an arguably 'better' example of a president stretching the limits of presidential power, but then Will is clearly not a Trump supporter (and maybe a Roosevelt admirer so didn't want to sully the big man's name), The whole comment was a peevish dig.
In any case, leaving the blame at the democrats' feet for the nutjob roadshow that is the Trump administration, over a caustic statement made 100 years ago by a democratic president is like blaming Lincoln for Trump because he suspended habeas corpus.
The notion of the constitutionality of Mueller's appointment should have been challenged by now (at least to avoid wasting time and money thus avoiding potentially pointless lurid political pathos) if the notion had legs. Will would have known that (as should Maher).
On Will's caution over climate-change spending, he ignores the fact that clean energy production is obviously not a waste of money as it is achieving the objective and aiding the economy... Something, to be fair, Maher does pick up on.