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

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).