WASHINGTON — The Senate heard the first detailed arguments on the merits of formally censuring President Bush during a frequently testy committee hearing Friday that highlighted Republican opposition and Democratic ambivalence toward the idea.
Five legal experts appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the resolution that Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced in mid-March to censure Bush for authorizing a domestic spying program by the National Security Agency that operates without court warrants.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday April 05, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Censure hearing: An article in Saturday's Section A about a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a resolution to censure President Bush said that John W. Dean III had testified before Congress about Watergate in 1976. He testified in 1973.
John W. Dean III, the former White House counsel for President Nixon, provided the session's most dramatic moments with testimony favoring the resolution.
Dean, a key player in the Watergate scandal that toppled Nixon's presidency, charged that Bush's assertions of expansive executive power in waging the war on terrorism represented an "even more serious" threat to the Constitution than the misdeeds by Nixon and his aides.
"Had a censure resolution been issued about some of Nixon's conduct long before it erupted to the degree ... that came, it would have been a godsend," Dean said.
Other witnesses disputed the notion that censuring Bush was justified. And, as expected, the five Republican senators at the hearing condemned the Feingold resolution.
"I can only hope that this constitutionally suspect and, I believe, inflammatory attempt to punish the president for leading this war on terror will not weaken his ability to do so," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the committee chairman, said he saw "no merit" to the resolution.
Feingold countered that the Senate needed to send Bush a strong signal that it rejected his claims of authority to act without congressional approval on surveillance and other issues, such as the treatment of war prisoners.
"What we have here ... is one of the greatest attempts to dismantle our system of government that we have seen in the history of our country," Feingold said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be talking about censure."
After the hearing, which drew a throng of reporters but a small public audience, Specter suggested that Feingold's proposal would receive a committee vote. "It will be before the committee in due course," he said.
Many Republicans believe bringing the resolution to a vote will embarrass and divide Democrats. Also, the Republican National Committee posted a video on its website Friday implying that censure was the first step in a Democratic plan to impeach Bush if the party regained control of Congress.
