Dick Cheney reveals hitherto-unknown powers unfettered by time and space

[topaz]

The latest jaw-dropping piece to come out of the White House is Dick Cheney's assertion that the office of the Vice President is not part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not subject to the usual oversight processes that apply to the rest of the White House.

Even more astonishing and alarming is that he may be right.

There's a document known as the Plum Book, formally titled "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions," which is released every four years and apparently documents the structure of the Executive and Legislative branches, plus dozens of independent government agencies.  Appendix 5 of the 2004 Plum Book is titled "Office of the Vice President," and says:

The Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. The Vice Presidency performs functions in both the legislative branch (see article I, section 3 of the Constitution) and in the executive branch (see article II, and amendments XII and XXV, of the Constitution, and section 106 of title 3 of the United States Code).

Smoley hokes.  It makes sense from a separation-of-powers point of view (remember that the Vice President is also the President of the Senate), but still.

I am, of course, not an expert in Constitutional law and don't know how authoritative these sources are.  Some part of me is sure that this is not a real loophole, and that elsewhere in the vast shadowy behemoth of Federal regulatory law there is a stipulation that presidential orders which apply to the executive branch are also held to apply to the veep.

Nevertheless.  I really hope this gets played out to its logical extreme.  It will be very interesting to watch.

Thanks to dr_memory for bringing to my attention the original Time Blog article (linking to both the Cheney quote and the Plum Book).

Comments

[laura47.livejournal.com]

i adore that icon to little bits, it is so perfect. does he even know who dick cheney is yet?

I know every parent dreads the day they must tell their children the truth about Dick Cheney...

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

He does not. I haven't figured out how to explain "shambling undead avatar of the Elder God Azathoth" to him.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

show him an appropriate zombie movie? except i can't actually condone inflicting zombies on anyone, child or adult, so i don't know.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

I am a law student, and I'd stake my degree on an assertion that the Vice Presidency is an office of the executive branch.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Is it news that Dick Cheney considers himself to be above the law?

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

n.b. the important thing about that quote from the 2004 Plum Book is that it's new. Previous editions have said no such thing.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

dancingwolfgrrl also pointed this out. I find it interesting but I'm not sure it's suspicious. The Plum Book is compiled not by the executive branch, but by (in alternate election cycles) the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform.

The 2004 book was edited by the House Committee -- which included Henry Waxman. Oops.

[arcticelf.livejournal.com]

So lets say he's right, and the VP's office is neither part of the executive (where I think it belongs), or the legislative (where I could be convinced it belongs, president of the Senate and all that). Its certainly not part of the judiciary, that being the last branch of the govt. In which case the VP's office would be _not_ part of the govt.

If its not part of the govt, it doesn't get govt funding... or privileges... and really, we would probably all be better off with out it anyway.

I'm just sayin'

AE

[rsc.livejournal.com]

The office of the Vice President is a curious anomaly. The Constitution provides the VP with two functions: (1) to take over the Presidency in the event of the President's death, incapacity, resignation, or removal from office; (2) to preside over the Senate (something modern-day VPs very rarely do in practice). Other ill-specified functions have accrued to VPs in recent years, partly, I suppose, because Presidents (or VPs, or somebody else) started actually worrying about the idea of somebody suddenly becoming President without having any idea what was going on (see, for example, Harry Truman, who did manage to come up to speed pretty quickly).

[arcticelf.livejournal.com]

With out ever thinking about it, it seemed to me that the VP would be the 'president lite' where some amount of executive shit gets delegated to be taken care of. That apparently makes to much sense for the govt though...

I think the VP having some idea of how the exec branch works is a good thing, in case he's needed.

Interesting though.

AE

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Nor does the office get access to classified information, which was the - informal? - response of the office he's been dissing. "If you're not part of the executive branch, then you don't get the privileges thereof, either." Maybe no executive immunity, either?

Denial of access to classified information should be sufficient. If belated.

[arcticelf.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me, until we need the VP to _do_ something, and then he will have no context, having been out of the loop. I think just denying executive privilege should be sufficient, he can have classified info, _and_ the legislative can call him down and force him to testify under oath. Its a win/win right?

AE