FRONTLINE'S SEASON PREMIERE INVESTIGATES CHENEY'S EFFORTS TO EXPAND THE

[demnan]

FRONTLINE'S SEASON PREMIERE INVESTIGATES CHENEY'S EFFORTS TO EXPAND THE
POWER OF THE PRESIDENCY

FRONTLINE presents
CHENEY'S LAW
Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

www.pbs.org/frontline/cheney

For three decades Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive,
behind-closed-doors campaign to give the president virtually unlimited
wartime power. Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Justice Department and
the White House made a number of controversial legal decisions. Orchestrated
by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington, the department interpreted
executive power in an expansive and extraordinary way, granting President
George W. Bush the power to detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy --
without congressional approval or judicial review.

Now, as the White House appears ready to ignore subpoenas in the wiretapping
and U.S. attorneys' cases, FRONTLINE's season premiere, Cheney's Law, airing
Oct. 16, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), examines the
battle over the power of the presidency and Cheney's way of looking at the
Constitution.

"The vice president believes that Congress has very few powers to actually
constrain the president and the executive branch," former Justice Department
attorney Marty Lederman tells FRONTLINE. "He believes the president should
have the final word, indeed the only word on all matters within the
executive branch."

After Sept. 11, Cheney and Addington were determined to implement their
vision -- in secret. The vice president and his counsel found an ally in
John Yoo, a lawyer at the Justice Department's extraordinarily powerful
Office of Legal Counsel. In concert with Addington, Yoo wrote memoranda
authorizing the president to act with unparalleled authority.

"Through interviews with key administration figures, Cheney's Law documents
the bruising bureaucratic battles between a group of conservative Justice
Department lawyers and the Office of the Vice President over the legal
foundation for the most closely guarded programs in the war on terror," says
FRONTLINE producer/director/writer Michael Kirk. This is Kirk's tenth
documentary about the Bush administration's policies since 9/11 (Rumsfeld's
War, The Torture Question, The Dark Side, The Lost Year in Iraq, Endgame).

In his most extensive television interview since leaving the Justice
Department, former Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith describes
his initial days at the Department of Justice in the fall of 2003 as he
learned about the government's most secret and controversial covert
operations. Goldsmith was shocked by the administration's secret assertion
of unlimited power.

"There were extravagant and unnecessary claims of presidential power that
were wildly overbroad to the tasks at hand," Goldsmith says. "I had a whole
flurry of emotions. My first one was disbelief that programs of this
importance could be supported by legal opinions that were this flawed. My
second was the realization that I would have a very, very hard time standing
by these opinions if pressed. My third was the sinking feeling -- what was I
going to do if I was pressed about reaffirming these opinions?"

As Goldsmith began to question his colleagues' claims that the
administration could ignore domestic laws and international treaties, he
began to clash with Cheney's office. According to Goldsmith, Addington
warned him, "If you rule that way, the blood of the 100,000 people who die
in the next attack will be on your hands."

Goldsmith's battles with Cheney culminated in a now-famous hospital-room
confrontation at Attorney General John Ashcroft's bedside. Goldsmith watched
as White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andy Card pleaded
with Ashcroft to overrule the department's finding that a domestic
surveillance program was illegal. Ashcroft rebuffed the White House, and as
many as 30 department lawyers threatened to resign. The president relented.

But Goldsmith's victory was temporary, and Cheney's Law continues the story
after the famous hospital-room standoff. At the Justice Department, White
House Counsel Gonzales was named attorney general and tasked with
reasserting White House control. On Capitol Hill, Cheney lobbied Congress
for broad authorizations for the eavesdropping program and for approval of
the administration's system for trying suspected terrorists by military
tribunals.

As the White House and Congress continue to face off over executive
privilege, the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and the firing of U.S.
attorneys, FRONTLINE tells the story of the man behind what some view as the
most ambitious project to reshape the power of the president in American
history.


Following the broadcast, Cheney's Law will be available to view on
FRONTLINE's Web site, www.pbs.org/frontline/cheney.


Cheney's Law is a FRONTLINE co-production with Kirk Documentary Group, Ltd.
The writer, producer and director is Michael Kirk. The co-producer and
reporter is Jim Gilmore. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is
broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the
support of PBS viewers. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional funding is provided by
the Park Foundation. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and
hard-of-hearing viewers and described for people who are blind or visually
impaired by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered
trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. The FRONTLINE executive producer
for special projects is Michael Sullivan. The executive producer for
FRONTLINE is David Fanning.

pbs.org/pressroom
Promotional photography can be downloaded from the PBS pressroom.

Press contacts
Diane Buxton
[phone]
[e-mail]

Alissa Rooney
[phone]
[e-mail]

Phil Zimmerman
[phone]
[e-mail]


www.pbs.org/frontline/cheney

[aquart]

1. As a gift for Hillary? How sweet.

Most shortsighted fool on the planet. Was there brain damage during his ninety-nine surgeries and heart attacks?

I said Hillary because I believe that's the candidate he would hate most, with Obama a close second. Neither being middle-aged white men. All that power ....to a Democrat....would that be enough to give him that final stroke?

[Olney Blue]

2. Looks like required viewing for every citizen.

[MnFats]

3. this will be can't miss....it's supposed to be as explosive as anything Frontline has done...

People i talk to in govt. and news are holding their breath....may Cheney finally be held to account for his sins against America, dating all the way back to his Nixon era????

[incapsulated]

4. kick

:)