Cheney shuns Electoral College requirement
In written statement, he says results may impede performance of the executive’s constitutional duties
Mon Dec 15, 2008
When Vice President Cheney received the tallies of electoral votes from the fifty states and the District of Columbia, he issued a statement saying that he did not feel bound by requirements that he inform Congress as to the results of the election.
Cheney indicated that he felt he could withold the information if he decided that disclosure would “impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive’s constitutional duties.”
Cheney wrote, citing President Bush: “The executive branch shall construe the provisions… that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch… in a manner consistent with the president’s constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withold information…”
The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which the Bush administration has cited its constitutional authority to bypass a law.
After The New York Times disclosed in December 2005 that Bush had authorized the military to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans’ international phone calls and emails without obtaining warrants, as required by law, Bush said his wartime powers gave him the right to ignore the warrant law.
And when Congress passed a law forbidding the torture of any detainee in US custody, Bush signed the bill but issued a signing statement declaring that he could bypass the law if he believed using harsh interrogation techniques was necessary to protect national security.
Past presidents occasionally used such signing statements to describe their interpretations of laws, but Bush has expanded the practice. He has also been more assertive in claiming the authority to override provisions he thinks intrude on his power, legal scholars said.
Bush’s expansive claims of the power to bypass laws have provoked increased grumbling in Congress. Members of both parties have pointed out that the Constitution gives the majority the right to select the electors who choose the president, and the executive branch the duty to abide by that choice.
“Can you imagine the turmoil if the electoral college upholds the results of the popular vote?” said Cheney at the reception ceremony, referring to the November election which saw unprecedented landslide victories for Democrats at state and national levels.
“Some Democrats in Congress have decided this president is the enemy and the work he’s done keeping this nation safe and secure is grounds for removing him from office,” Cheney said. “The American people have already made their decision. They agree with the president.”
When asked if the electoral college votes would ever be tallied, Cheney was quick to add: “I never said never. This is a long war we’re facing. National security has to be taken into account. We’re examining every option. Nothing’s off the table.”
He went on to say, regarding the Democrats: “If they are competent to fight this war, then I ought to be singing on American Idol.”
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee agreed with the vice president, saying: “It’s true. Cheney can’t sing a note.”
This newspaper did not respond to repeated Democratic requests for a chance to comment on this story.
