WASHINGTON:
When a congressional committee subpoenaed Harry Truman in 1953, nearly
a year after he left office, he made a startling claim: Even though he
was no longer president, the Constitution still empowered him to
block subpoenas.
"If the doctrine of separation of powers and the independence of the
presidency is to have any validity at all, it must be equally
applicable to a president after his term of office has expired," Truman
wrote to the committee.
Congress backed down, establishing a precedent suggesting that
former presidents wield lingering powers to keep certain doings of
their administration secret. Now, as congressional Democrats prepare to
move forward with investigations of the Bush administration, they
wonder whether that claim may be invoked again.
"The Bush administration overstepped in its exertion of executive
privilege, and may very well try to continue to shield information from
the American people after it leaves office," said Senator Sheldon
Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, who sits on two committees,
Judiciary and Intelligence, that are examining Bush policies.
Topics of open investigations include the harsh interrogation of
detainees, the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama,
secret legal memorandums from the Justice Department's Office of Legal
Counsel and the role of the former White House aides Karl Rove and
Harriet Miers in the firing of federal prosecutors.
Bush has used his executive powers to block congressional requests
for executive branch documents and testimony from former aides. But
investigators hope that President-elect Barack Obama's administration
will open the filing cabinets and withdraw assertions of executive
privilege that Bush officials have invoked to keep from testifying.
"I intend to ensure that our outstanding subpoenas and document
requests relating to the U.S. attorneys matter are enforced," said
Representative John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, the chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee. "I am hopeful that progress can be made with
the coming of the new administration."
In addition, two advocacy groups, the American Civil Liberties Union
and Human Rights First, have prepared detailed reports for the new
administration calling for criminal investigations into alleged abuses
of detainees.
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Democrats' plans to investigate Bush administration may blocked