Executive Privilege

Executive Privilege "refers to the assertion made by the President or other executive branch officials when they refuse to give Congress, the courts, or private parties information or records which have been requested or subpoenaed, or when they order government witnesses not to testify before Congress.

"The assertion is based on the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, is always controversial, subject to interpretation, and often litigated."—C-SPAN Congressional Glossary.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2006 states that executive privilege is "exemption of the executive branch of government, or its officers, from having to give evidence, specifically, in U.S. law, the exemption of the president from disclosing information to congressional inquiries or the judiciary. Claims of executive privilege are usually invoked to protect confidential military or diplomatic operations or to protect the private discussions and debates of the president with close aides. Efforts by various presidents since Eisenhower to gain absolute and unqualified privilege have been rejected by the courts, though they remain inclined to support most claims of executive privilege. Where criminal charges are being brought against a president, as in the case of Richard Nixon, the claims of executive privilege are weakest; during the process leading to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, numerous claims made by the White House were dropped when it was clear courts would not uphold them."

---

Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

• Cheney Energy Task Force
• George W. Bush's bank records spying
• George W. Bush's domestic spying
• George W. Bush's phone records spying
• global detention system
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony
• National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
• presidential signing statements
• The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush
• Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove
• Unitary Executive Theory

External resources

• executive privilege in the Wikipedia.
• executive privilege, BushSecrecy.org/Public Citizen.
• "The U.S. Government's Use of Executive Privilege & Executive Power," Freedom of Information Center. Article links.
• Michael C. Dorf, "A Brief History of Executive Privilege, From George Washington through Dick Cheney," FindLaw's Writ, February 6, 2002.

Documents

• "Memorandum for the Attorney General. SUBJECT: Congressional Subpoena for Executive Branch Documents," December 12, 2001. Posted on Federation of American Scientists website.

External articles

• Ellen Nakashima, "Bush Invokes Executive Privilege on Hill. Records on Clinton, Mob Case Barred," Washington Post, December 14, 2001.
• Akhil Reed Amar, "Cheney, Enron, and the Constitution. The Vice President is right that executive privilege is being eroded. But Enron is not the case to make his stand against it," TIME, February 2, 2002.
• Joshua Micah Marshall, "Bush's executive-privilege two-step," February 7, 2002: "His documents are too precious to give Congress, but those of the previous administration aren't worth protecting -- as long as they make Bill Clinton look bad."
• Mark J. Rozell, Paper: "Executive Privilege Revived?: Secrecy and Conflict During the Clinton and Bush Presidencies," Duke University Law Journal Thirty-Second Annual Administrative Law Conference, March 10, 2002 (Draft; 77-page pdf).
• Louis Fisher, Paper: "Congressional Access to Information: Using Legislative Will and Leverage," Duke University Law Journal Thirty-Second Annual Administrative Law Conference, March 11, 2002 (Draft; 72-page pdf).
• Robert Scheer, "Hiding behind the veil of executive privilege. Once again the White House is invoking the prerogatives of power to shut down legitimate public inquiry into 9/11," Salon, May 21, 2002.
• Dan Ackman, "Cheney Task Force Loses Place To Hide," Forbes, July 9, 2003.
• Wayne Washington, "Executive privilege seen as leak-case option. Shielding material is not ruled out; Democrats protest," Boston Globe, October 8, 2003; Common Dreams.
• Terry Eastland, "President's Privilege," The Weekly Standard, April 8, 2004: "Why Bush didn't want Condoleezza Rice to testify before the September 11 commission--and why she's going to do so today."
• Dana Mulhauser, "Half Court," The New Republic Online, June 25, 2004.
• Bruce Fein, Commentary: "Executive privilege folly," Washington Times, October 6, 2004.
• Sacha Pfeiffer, "Executive privilege at heart of dispute over Miers memos," Boston Globe, October 28, 2005.
• "What Are the Limits of Executive Privilege?" NPR, January 28, 2006: "The Bush administration has cited executive privilege in withholding documents and testimony regarding domestic surveillance and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Sept. 11 commission general counsel Daniel Marcus and Ohio State law professor Peter Shane share their insights with Scott Simon."
• Jason Vest, "The Coming Showdown Over Executive Privilege," Project on Government Oversight, May 12, 2006.
• Michelle Chen, "Cheney's Office Declares Exemption from Secrecy Oversight," New Standard News, June 7, 2006.
• Peter Baker and Michael Abramowitz, "A Governing Philosophy Rebuffed. Ruling Emphasizes Constitutional Boundaries," Washington Post, June 30, 2006.
• Tom Raum, "Analysis: Wartime Powers Face Scrutiny. Analysis: Guantanamo ruling raises questions on other Bush assertions of wartime powers," Associated Press (CBS News), June 30, 2006.
• Richard Stengel, "No One Gets a Blank Check," TIME.com, July 2, 2006.
• Michael Ratner, "For His Eyes Only: Bush's Secret Crimes," The Nation, July 2, 2006.
• Dana Priest, "Rethinking Embattled Tactics in Terror War. Courts, Hill and Allies Press Administration," Washington Post, July 11, 2006.
• Editorial: "The Real Agenda," New York Times, July 16, 2006.
• Michael Isikoff and Stuart Taylor Jr., "The Gitmo Fallout. The fight over the Hamdan ruling heats up—as fears about its reach escalate," Newsweek, July 17, 2006 (issue).
• Chris Floyd, "CYA Agents: Bush Hit Men Running Scared," Empire Burlesque, August 1, 2006.
• Dan Froomkin, "Signing Statements Strike a Nerve," Washington Post, August 2, 2006.
• Commentary: "Bush is signing away our checks and balances," Chicago Sun-Times, August 2, 2006.
• Aziz Huq, "We're All Enemy Combatants Now," TomPaine.com, August 2, 2006.
• Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein, "Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings. White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases," Washington Post, July 20, 2007.
• Ann Woolner, "President Bush Tells Congress, Because I Said So," Bloomberg News, July 24, 2007.
• Ed Morrissey, "White House Conference Call On Executive Privilege (Update: Executive Privilege Analysis)," Captain's Quarters Blog, July 27, 2007.