Replies to post #59722 on Discover GOP Opprobrium

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agreed

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Following Shooting Massacre In Binghamton, New York That Killed As Many As 13 People, Freedom States Alliance Demands Accountability Of Gun Industry and Lawmakers Who Refuse To Enact Comprehensive Gun Laws To Save Lives

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White House Office of Legal Council: Dawn Johnsen’s nomination as head of the OLC has been delayed in part because Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has ideological differences with her. As the Legal Times explained, “citing Johnsen’s criticisms of Bush national security policies, [Cornyn] accused her of lacking ‘the seriousness and necessary resolve’ to fight terrorism,” while “other Republicans have targeted her work as legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America from 1988 to 1993.”

From: http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/

By delegation from the Attorney General, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel provides authoritative legal advice to the President and all the Executive Branch agencies. The Office drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and also provides its own written opinions and oral advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President, the various agencies of the Executive Branch, and offices within the Department. Such requests typically deal with legal issues of particular complexity and importance or about which two or more agencies are in disagreement. The Office also is responsible for providing legal advice to the Executive Branch on all constitutional questions and reviewing pending legislation for constitutionality.

All executive orders and proclamations proposed to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality, as are various other matters that require the President’s formal approval.

In addition to serving as, in effect, outside counsel for the other agencies of the Executive Branch, the Office of Legal Counsel also functions as general counsel for the Department itself. It reviews all proposed orders of the Attorney General and all regulations requiring the Attorney General’s approval. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General.

The Office of Legal Counsel is not authorized to give legal advice to private persons.

Sen Cornyn, in case you don’t understand how government works, it’s not the OLC’s job to “fight terrorism.” It’s the OLC’s job to tell the President and Attorney General if what they plan to do to fight terrorism is legal and constitutional. It’s not up to them to come up with the plans themselves. Furthermore, it’s not up to the OLC to find a legal justification for what the President wants to do, it’s up to them to tell him if what he wants to do is legal at all. The people working in that office under Bush, just like you, Senator, took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Their loyalty was supposed to be to the Constitution first and the President second.

If you don’t understand that, then you don’t belong in the US Senate.