It's out, the final report, almost 600 pages, 50 recommendations,
One, a Special Prosecutor: "that the new Administration conduct an independent criminal inquiry ..."
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Judiciary Chairman Conyers Publishes Report Documenting Bush Abuses
For Immediate Release
April 02, 2009 -
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/090402.html(Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) announced the publication of the final version of the Democratic Committee staff report on systematic abuses of presidential power during the Bush administration. The report, titled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush," contains 50 separate recommendations designed to correct the imbalanced separation of power that characterized the George W. Bush presidency. Chief among Conyers’ recommendations include continued congressional investigations like those the Judiciary Committee has pursued concerning Karl Rove’s interactions with the Justice Department, a blue ribbon commission similar to the panel proposed in Chairman Conyers’ H.R. 104, and independent criminal probes to be conducted by federal prosecutors.
"President Obama has taken immediate action to right many of the Bush administration’s wrongs including pledges to disavow torture and close the prison at Guantanamo," said Conyers. Referencing the need for further action on an independent commission and criminal investigations, Conyers continued, "However, the administration still has much to do to restore the rule of law to its rightful place. A nonpartisan, independent accounting of what happened must take place, and the new administration must do more to roll back its predecessor’s policies on issues ranging from signing statements to the state secrets privilege."
Conyers further observed that other countries are taking aggressive action to investigate Bush-era policies on interrogation. "I have noted press reports describing the criminal investigation being carried out by Judge Garzon of Spain," he said. "In the apparent absence of any independent criminal investigation of torture allegations being carried out in the U.S., and considering our obligations under the 1984 Convention Against Torture, I understand this step by a serious and respected jurist. In the end, however, it is America’s obligation to police its own compliance with U.S. and international law."
“Reining in the Imperial Presidency,” initially released in January, contains additional recommendations and supplementary discussions on developments uncovered during the final days of the Bush administration, including the Justice Department’s Inspector General report on politicization within the Civil Rights Division.
The report is linked here:
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/111th/IPres090316.pdfREINING IN THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY
Lessons and Recommendations Relating to
the Presidency of George W. Bush
House Committee on the Judiciary Majority Staff
Final Report to Chairman John Conyers, Jr.
March 2009
.... The Bush Administration’s approach to power is, at its core, little more than a
restatement of Mr. Nixon’s famous rationalization of presidential misdeeds: “When the
president does it, that means it’s not illegal.” Under this view, laws that forbid torturing or
degrading prisoners cannot constrain the president because, if the president ordered such acts as
Commander in Chief, “that means it’s not illegal.” Under this view, it is not the courts that
decide the reach of the law – it is the president – and neither the judiciary nor Congress can
constrain him. And where statutory law or the Constitution itself appear to impose obstacles to
presidential whim, creative counselors can be relied upon to reach whatever result the president
desires.
This dismissive approach to our system of checks and balances was exemplified when
the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, David Addington, appeared before the House Judiciary
Committee on June 26, 2008 .... nowhere was the range and scope of this most recent version of the Imperial
Presidency more apparent than within the United States Department of Justice, the cornerstone
of law enforcement in our country. ....
....... Section 6 of the Report sets forth a comprehensive set of 50 policy recommendations
designed to respond to the abuses and excesses of the Bush Imperial Presidency. The list begins
with three major threshold recommendations:
• First, that the Judiciary Committee pursue its document requests and subpoenas
pending at the end of the 110th Congress.
• Second, that Congress create an independent blue ribbon commission or similar
body to investigate the host of previously unreviewable activities of the Bush
Administration; including detention, enhanced interrogation, extraordinary
rendition, ghosting and black sites, and warrantless domestic electronic
surveillance.
• Third, that the new Administration conduct an independent criminal inquiry into
whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities.
In this regard, the Report firmly rejects the notion that we should move on from these
matters simply because a new Administration is set to take office. This is because there never
has been an independent, comprehensive review of these very serious allegations with a full
report to the American public. ...
......
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