Executive privilege
2007 March 21
Fact: President Bush claims he was not involved in the plans to fire US attorneys.
Fact: President Bush says he’ll invoke “executive privilege” to prevent members of his administration from testifying in this manner.
Now, the Supreme Court’s position so far has been that Presidents have a right to get expert, candid advice and information from staff without fear of that advice becoming public, but that the President did not have absolute protection from oversight and legal action.
The question then becomes: how does executive privilege apply in this case? If the President is claiming he was not involved in this issue, then surely they were not giving him expert, candid advice.
Someone asked Tony Snow that. He doesn’t have an answer.