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 But Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, said they believe both bills are constitutional. They based that conclusion on a 1988 Supreme Court ruling in Morrison v. Olson that upheld a much tougher independent counsel law. Congress let that law expire in 1999, but the ruling still stands.

Posner said the bills’ protection for Mueller and future special prosecutors “strengthens our democratic system of government by ensuring that the president complies with the laws enacted by Congress, and does not use his immense power over law enforcement to shield himself and his associates from investigation of wrongdoing.”

Senators said they would be willing to tweak their bills to allay concerns posed by some of the experts, but they intend to move ahead with their legislation.

The Special Counsel Integrity Act, by Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Chris Coons, D-Del., would allow a special counsel who is fired to challenge that dismissal in federal court. A panel of judges would have to review the challenge within 14 days. The legislation would be retroactive to May 17, when Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

“My bipartisan bill with Senator Tillis is about ensuring that the special counsel cannot be removed improperly, a protection that is critical not just for the current investigation but for investigations conducted by special counsels in the future,” Coons said.

John Duffy, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said the bill’s provision making it retroactive is “the most constitutionally troubling aspect” of the legislation. He said it singles out Mueller for special protection and could be an unconstitutional circumvention of the president’s power. Tillis said Tuesday that he agrees that the retroactive date should be removed from the bill.

A second bill, the Special Counsel Independence Protection Act by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., would require a judicial review to remove a special counsel from office. The attorney general would have to petition a federal court and establish that there was a “good cause for removal,” such as misconduct, incapacity or conflict of interest.

Duffy said the bill could violate the Constitution by stripping the executive branch of power over hiring and firing and giving it to the courts. He suggested a possible alternative would be to require the attorney general to delay the firing of a special counsel for 14 days to give the special counsel time to file an action on his own behalf seeking judicial review of his removal. That would also give a court time to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the firing until after the case is heard, Duffy said.

Graham said he thought Duffy’s recommendation was a good idea. He said he and Booker want Mueller “to be able to do his job without fear of reprisal.”

Booker said Tuesday that Congress must follow Tuesday’s hearing “with swift action to pass legislation to safeguard Mueller’s ability to do his job effectively and to free him from retaliation from the president.”

Shortly before the debate over the bills began, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed frustration that FBI agents were refusing to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation unless the special counsel agreed not to provide their information to Congress. There are three congressional committees conducting Russia investigations, including the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Grassley denounced the non-disclosure agreements between the FBI and Mueller as “essentially gag orders” that “thwart transparency.” He said he is trying to get information about former FBI director James Comey’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton last year for her use of a private email server.

“The executive branch cannot avoid congressional oversight by signing agreements,” Grassley said.

Read more:

Congress should protect evidence gathered by Mueller in Russia probe, experts warn

Congress struggles to figure out which Russia investigation trumps the others

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Tags: Choosing Lingerie

Bannon Takes His Total War to Trump’s Doorstep

September 26, 2017 by admin  
Filed under Choosing Lingerie

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Having lost the battle to control Donald Trump’s presidency from within the West Wing, Steve Bannon has taken his war on the Republican Party outside the White House, leaning into his reputation as a political brawler to pressure Trump to uphold the populist-nationalist agenda that helped sweep him into power. “They’re not going to help you unless they’re put on notice,” he remarked earlier this month, promising to support anti-establishment candidates in order to transform the G.O.P.

On Tuesday, Bannon’s influence within the conservative movement will be put to the test. Bucking the establishment Republicans and Trump himself, Bannon had sent nearly all of Breitbart’s political reporters to Alabama to boost former judge Roy Moore against Luther Strange, the state’s former Attorney General, in the special election to fill Jeff Session’s vacant Senate seat. Moore, a controversial culture warrior with a decidedly Breitbartian, anti-Mitch McConnell tilt, held a wide and comfortable lead in the race long before Bannon had sent Breitbart down south. And in a sign that he is seeking to position himself as a power broker, Bannon appeared at a campaign rally for Moore on Monday night to deliver a barnburner of a speech.

“We have a cute phrase: ‘Drain the Swamp.’ But the enemy we face is not cute,” he told the crowd, hours before the polls were set to open Tuesday morning. “And we’re not going to do it with slogans. We’re just not going to do it because we wish it away. You’re gonna have to fight every day to take Washington back, and by taking Washington back, take the control of your own lives back!”

Although the Strange-Moore primary has been positioned as a proxy battle for the soul of the Republican Party, pitting the establishment against the far-right, Bannon himself defended his support for Moore as more pro-Trump than Trump himself. ”A vote for Judge Roy Moore is a vote for Donald J. Trump,” he said, even as the president dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to campaign for Strange. ”And a vote for Donald J Trump is a vote to make America great again.”

“We were not here to defy President Trump, we were here to praise him,” Bannon explained in a follow-up interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, who broadcast live from the sidelines of the Moore rally. “Strange can’t sit there and say ‘I can stand up to Mitch McConnell.’ McConnell is giving him 30 million dollars.”

Moore had been making that arguments for weeks, but Bannon’s influence elevated Moore’s position to a national level. CNN reported that inside Breitbart, the editorial leadership made no secret of their preferred candidate. “As of now, everyone is working on the Alabama race,” political editor Matthew Boyle told employees in an internal chat room. “If anyone has any questions please let me know.” Indeed, the focus on Alabama was so intense that on Monday, coverage about Moore and Strange dominated the site’s front page.

For Bannon, Tuesday’s primary could be an inflection point in his fight against the “new aristocracy” in Washington whom he blames for his political defenestration after a brief ascent into the White House’s inner circle. “I wear their contempt as a badge of honor,” he declared to Hannity. “They have helped destroy this country. They have perpetrated economic hate crimes against the good people of this country.”

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