A History Lesson for Senator "Idiot" Leahy

Kimberley Strassel offers a history lesson for Senator Idiot of Vermont.

A president removes a U.S. attorney, and Congress demands to see privileged files related to the firing. The president refuses, noting that "these suspensions are my executive acts," and "based upon considerations addressed to me alone." The Senate has a meltdown, arguing it has oversight authority over the removal of administration officials and threatens to censure the attorney general.

If this sounds familiar, it shouldn't, since it's the story of a long-forgotten battle that President Grover Cleveland fought with Congress in 1885. One reason it is long-forgotten is because nothing happened. The Senate was steamed that Cleveland wouldn't cough up the docs, but it also recognized there were limits on its power. It never did hold any officials in contempt, never did take any judicial action. Instead, it confirmed Cleveland's new choice for the U.S. attorney position.

Strassel continues with the obvious, that the Senator Idiot and his doltish compatriot Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, are motivated more by politics than by the law. Both these men, alledgedly, went to law school. Even if they had not, they have spent enough time in Congress to know the limits of their power and the limits of executive privilege.

What is more troubling though is the damage these men are doing to both the institution of Congress and the Executive Branch. They have laid the foundation for decades of partisan warfare, bickering that will accomplish nothing, regardless of which party controls Congress or the White House. The expense of these investigations, and the ink that has been spilled and time wasted focused on a delusional political battle could be far better spent addressing other matters in the Judiciary Committee purview, like immigration, patent and trademark reforms, software and music piracy by other nations, border security, and revamping the judicial proceedures to speed up the processes of going to court. These are all legitimate subjects for legislation--which is the business of Congress, not partisan point scoring and needless investigations.