Trump Claims Executive Privilege on Census Question

[applegrove]

Trump Claims Executive Privilege on Census Question

June 12, 2019 at 10:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 83 Comments


https://politicalwire.com/2019/06/12/trump-claims-executive-privilege-on-census-question/

"SNIP....

President Trump “asserted executive privilege to shield documents about the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a move meant to try to undercut an expected vote by a House panel to hold his attorney general and commerce secretary in contempt for failing to turn over the materials to lawmakers,” the Washington Post reports.

Axios: “The House Oversight Committee is preparing to vote to hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt Wednesday for refusing to turn over subpoenaed materials. The committee is investigating whether the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census was politically motivated, a controversy that could have major implications for future federal funding and redistricting.”

...SNIP"

[triron]

1. So can the House override Trump's obstruction?

Trump may as well be king.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. The president can't claim executive priviledge on a census issue since the census is mandated ...

by constitutional decree...

[triron]

3. We always say Trump 'can't' but he does anyway. Question is: what can be done about it?

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Well, I expect the House of Reps to respond in kind, going to the courts, and getting...

remedies to address this, e.g., the source documents adding this illegal political crap to the census.

[StarfishSaver]

5. He can claim executive privilege for limited communications with his staff, even on this issue. But

there's no blanket executive privilege protection for the wide range of communications, documents, etc. that he's claiming.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Makes sense. Thanks!

[StarfishSaver]

7. ...

[Gothmog]

8. According to Neal Katyal, this assertion may kill the concept of executive privilege

Link to tweet

[StarfishSaver]

9. I'm interested to see his reasoning

[Gothmog]

10. Same here-Katyal is a very strong attorney

I suspect that we will be on The Beat with Ari or another MSNBC show and will explain his analysis

[Gothmog]

12. This is from another MSNBC lawyer

This is explanation is consistent with my understanding of the limits of executive privilege

Link to tweet

[StarfishSaver]

13. I agree with her, but she's not explaining Katyal's point0

[Gothmog]

14. Here- I will be reading this later today

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

15. From the Beat with Ari

Link to tweet

[Poiuyt]

11. At this point, I don't think trump cares about anything except showing

that he's more powerful than Congress. And Republicans in Congress, at least, are happy to prove him right.

So much for co-equal branches of government.