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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:29 PM
Original message
I need a lawyer. If subpoenas are continually stonewalled, what can be
done? What would be the next step? Keep in mind the DoJ is possibly a non-entity at this point.
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napi21 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:35 PM
Response to Original message
1. The person subpoenaed would be in contempt of congreess, and
be arrested and carted off. If the person happens to be the AG...Gonzo...I suspect the warrant would be turned over to the Inspector General at the DOJ.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Wrong answer if the DoJ is complicit. Will they act? I'm thinking Rice,
Gonzo, only those supposedly smart people who are glued to the dim one for whatever reason. I understand Gonzo's reasoning, but not Rice-at all.
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Kagemusha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:38 PM
Response to Original message
2. There's such a thing as asking a court to see that the subpoena is enforced.
Since congress does not command the DoJ directly, if the DoJ drags its feet Congress could simply go to a judge, show that it is a valid subpoena, and the judge starts the sort of process that a judge starts: demand DoJ people show up to explain why they're not following the law. There'd then be rulings, appeals, and the Supreme Court gets to say the obvious: a valid congressional subpoena must be followed in an America where the rule of law prevails.

Then the administration either folds or breaks the rule of law that has sustained the Republic since its founding.
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reichstag911 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:41 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. The same "rule of law"...
...they've been disregarding since they took office? Nah, they'd never do that. :sarcasm:
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Kagemusha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 11:39 PM
Response to Reply #5
12. Sneaking past vs. open defiance is a big difference.
I mean open not as in, 'good people may disagree' but, 'the Supreme Court flatly disagrees but we don't care'. They do not want to go there.

But, I expected your response. I just differentiate between bad law and no law.
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reichstag911 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-10-07 07:47 PM
Response to Reply #12
15. It seems to me...
...that Bush's admission of the warrantless NSA program is tantamount to open defiance, especially when one considers that just a few months earlier, he'd made a point of explicitly stating that court orders were necessary and still being obtained for such surveillance. He knew the law, claimed to be following it, but ultimately admitted that he'd been lying about following it. If that doesn't constitute open defiance, I'm not sure what does. :shrug:
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:47 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. Thanks. Sounds like an exhaustive process, and makes me wonder
how the SC would rule given our current climate. I'd like to think I could trust them, but I don't.
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napi21 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:41 PM
Response to Original message
4. Check this link. They answer your question much better than I could.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003254.php
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:53 PM
Response to Reply #4
9. Thanks for that. So they're playing a dangerous game now.
Who will blink first? I think the Dems have nothing to lose by calling them on their b.s.
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:43 PM
Response to Original message
6. Inherent Contempt.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 10:49 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. And that means what? It doesn't matter? Not good enough. nt
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 11:03 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. Google is your friend.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 11:12 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Whatever. nt
Edited on Fri Jun-08-07 11:23 PM by babylonsister
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 11:42 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. I was fine with "pound sand" - lol - was cool to look up something I didn't know.
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-08-07 11:45 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Good. I know all about google, so you learned something tonight. nt
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treestar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-10-07 08:48 PM
Response to Original message
16. Contempt
Oddly enough, modern courts don't want to do it, and tend to blame the litigant.

There is a "rot from the top" effect - Chimpy's minions ignoring subpoenas gets the average American thinking they can do that, too.

It's all about the contempt for the rule of law that starts at the top.
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