George W. Bush/elevation of presidential power

Overview

This page is about George W. Bush's efforts to substantially expand the powers of the President of the United States during his time in office.

Bush's elevation of presidential power has greatly hindered investigation of corruption in his administration, and opened the door for much further corruption.

In general, Bush seems to be trying to remove the restraints (checks and balances) on presidential power which are intended to prevent corruption at the highest levels of government. He has stated repeatedly that he feels free to reinterpret or ignore the law as he sees fit, which runs completely counter to the rules set up by the Constitution.

Impeachable Offenses

The following particulars are believed to be impeachable offenses:

• [1] conspired to commit the torture of prisoners in violation of the "Federal Torture Act" Title 18 United States Code, Section 113C, the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva Conventions, which under Article VI of the Constitution are part of the "supreme Law of the Land" (see also: torture during GWB administration)
• [2] acted to strip Americans of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to legal counsel, without charge and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant", all in subversion of law

Links

• The Hidden State Steps Forward by Jonathan Schell (and some commentary by David Brin)
• Power Grab
• 2006-08-17 Judge: "There Are No Hereditary Kings in America" by Paul Kiel: warrantless wiretapping is ruled illegal
• 2006-07-24 American Bar Association (says) Bush violating Constitution
• 2006-02-21 Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs' by Nat Parry: raises a number of alarming points, with the "new programs" being only the cream on top. "Given Bush’s now open assertions that he is using his “plenary” – or unlimited – powers as Commander in Chief for the duration of the indefinite War on Terror, Americans can no longer trust that their constitutional rights protect them from government actions."

Actions

• 2006-10-18(?): Signed H.R. 5122, John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which gives the President expanded power to declare martial law [3]