The Constitution reads. Article I; Section 8. The Congress shall have power. . .
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
The President is not given those powers. He commands the armed forces under the laws established by Congress
Tim Harper writes: "Vice-President Dick Cheney has upped the ante in a burgeoning scandal over the use of unauthorized wiretaps in the United States, touting the Bush administration's success in restoring presidential powers that were stripped during the Richard Nixon era.
Cheney said the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War wrongly eroded the executive power of the White House, something he and U.S. President George W. Bush have remedied during their war on terror.
The U.S. vice-president spoke on a day when some moderate Republicans joined Democratic calls for a congressional inquiry into whether Bush broke the law by authorizing wiretaps without court permission.
At least two Democrats suggested Bush could be impeached for his alleged crimes and the White House scrambled late in the day to try to counter the perception that Bush had deliberately misled the nation when he spoke about wiretaps in April 2004.
"Watergate and a lot of things around Watergate and Vietnam, both during the '70s served, I think, to erode the authority ... the president needs to be effective, especially in the national security area," Cheney told reporters aboard the Air Force Two aircraft after a visit to Pakistan.
But the vice-president said he thought the Bush administration has been able to restore some of "the legitimate authority of the presidency."
He also said he believes that the U.S. War Powers Act, which gives the U.S. Congress the power to be fully engaged in a president's decision to go to war is unconstitutional.
"I am one of those who believe that was an infringement on the authority of the president," he said."
The constitution gives the President no authority except the authority provided by law. Congress needs to investigate the executive branch to see if the President and Vice President are faithfully executing the laws of the United States.
Overcoming colonialism through faith and action.
Not at all. In fact, it's probably not a great idea. That's what they have lawyeres for. This one is more seperation of powers than violation of the constitution.
Polically it's a disaster for the Democrats.
Check Noemie Emery on the Genius of Karl Rove http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/529fujux.asp
and Michael Barone on the NYTs Christmas Gift http://realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-12_26_05_MB.html
Sadly, it's the Democrats as Barone pointed out, who didn't bother to have their Lawyers read Justice Jackson,
The Constitution, Justice Robert Jackson famously wrote, should not be interpreted in a way that makes it "a suicide pact." The notion that terrorists' privacy must be respected when they place a cell-phone call to someone in the United States is in the nature of a suicide pact. The Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures in the United States should not be stretched into a ban on interceptions of communications from America's enemies abroad.
The mainstream media, inside their left-wing bubble, evidently thinks that there is not much in the way of danger. They should take a trip to Ground Zero, to the Sept. 11 memorial at the Pentagon, to Shanksville, Pa., where the heroes of United flight 93 prevented the terrorists from hitting their target in Washington.
Its a disaster for all Americans who actually want a real democracy....your position is too cynical for me...if Bush had no intention of upholding the constitution he should have declined the oath of office.
I've take an oath like this myself. I've never read the consitution. I don't feel cycnical about that. In all honesty, I have lawywers who tell me what the law is.
I think Bush upheld the law and constitution and defended America here. I think Congress and the Courts will find he did also.