Separation Of Powers

It was a neat solution to a persistent political problem. Perhaps too neat. Conservatives had long complained that some judges were too soft on criminals. Liberals had charged that other judges meted out harsh sentences to street criminals and gentle treatment for white-collar thieves. To remedy those problems, a 1984 compromise between Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.

The system of military commissions that will try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 plotters contains a dirty little secret. Hardly anybody talks about it, but it's a key reason for concern as the apparatus becomes established. It is this: The commissions can operate inside the United States, and they have jurisdiction over a broad range of crimes. Nothing in the Military Commissions Act limits the military trials to Guantanamo detainees, or to people captured and held abroad, or even to terrorism suspects.

"I've watched the Congress, man and boy for 40 years," Lyndon B. Johnson once recalled when he was at the peak of his presidential powers. "And I've never yet seen a Congress that didn't ultimately take the measure of the President it was dealing with." Four months after taking office, President Clinton has already had more trouble with Congress than he bargained for.

As lawmakers prepare for hearings into the largest egg recall in U.S. history, food safety advocates say the congressional probe could give momentum to a long-delayed measure that would enhance the power of the Food and Drug Administration. If passed, say policymakers, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act could be the first major step toward streamlining the often unwieldy food safety system. For example, in the U.S. cheese pizza is regulated by one federal agency, but a pepperoni pizza is overseen by another.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected for the third time President Bush's policy of holding foreign prisoners under exclusive control of the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the men have a right to seek their freedom before a federal judge. The justices said the Constitution from the beginning enshrined the "privilege of habeas corpus" -- or the right to go before a judge -- as one of the safeguards of liberty. And that right extends even to foreigners captured in the war on terrorism, the high court said, particularly when they have been held for as long as six years without charges.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob in Atlanta rejected federal sentencing guidelines, saying they violate the constitutional separation of powers. In the case of two convicted bank robbers, he said he would sentence them as though their crimes had occurred before a mandatory sentencing schedule went into effect last November. Shoob said the rules "are not simply guideposts to aid the exercise of judicial discretion. . . .

The Clinton Administration sought a rehearing Thursday of a court order to commission gay midshipman Joseph Steffan, but as expected sidestepped the larger battle over whether banning gays from the military is constitutional. The Justice Department, filing the petition on behalf of the Defense Department, focused instead on the narrower issue of whether the U.S.

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall thinks the Justice Department under the Reagan Administration is more interested in politics than sound legal arguments, it was disclosed Thursday. "I think there are certain movements that the Department of Justice is making which could be interpreted as trying to undermine the Supreme Court itself, which is, of course, impossible," Marshall said. "They can't separate the political from the legal.

The state Supreme Court, in a victory for Gov. George Deukmejian, agreed Thursday to hear the governor's challenge to a lower court ruling that he acted illegally in dismantling the Cal/OSHA worker safety program. With votes from all five Deukmejian appointees on the court, the justices said they would review a decision by a state Court of Appeal last October that Deukmejian must restore the program.

One of the chief challenges facing independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh in prosecuting his Iran-Contra case centers not on the evidence he has assembled but on his legal standing to conduct his investigation at all. Next month, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments that the appointment of independent counsels under the Ethics in Government Act unconstitutionally shifts the role of prosecution from the executive branch to Congress and the judiciary.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected for the third time President Bush's policy of holding foreign prisoners under exclusive control of the military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the men have a right to seek their freedom before a federal judge. The justices said the Constitution from the beginning enshrined the "privilege of habeas corpus" -- or the right to go before a judge -- as one of the safeguards of liberty. And that right extends even to foreigners captured in the war on terrorism, the high court said, particularly when they have been held for as long as six years without charges.

Despite the show at Annapolis, this week's main diplomatic initiative has concerned Iraq, not Israel. Without any fanfare, the Bush administration and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki announced that the United States and Iraq will begin negotiating a long-term agreement that will set the terms of Washington's Iraq policy for "coming generations." President Bush is again in legacy mode. His White House "czar" on Iraq, Army Lt. Gen.

For months, congressional investigators have been pursuing allegations that the Bush administration tried to influence cases handled by U.S. attorneys across the country in ways that would benefit the Republican Party. Now that investigation is near an impasse because the administration appears to be telling a U.S. attorney what to do. The prosecutor, Jeffrey A. Taylor, is the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

The first war-crimes trial here drew outrage Saturday from legal experts who described it as a perversion of the rule of law that may fatally discredit the Pentagon's already disparaged handling of terrorism suspects. Australian detainee David Hicks, whom prosecutors cast as a highly trained and dangerous Al Qaeda operative, will be out of prison before the year ends because of a secret deal cut by the Bush administration appointee overseeing the military commissions.

A House subcommittee voted Thursday to subpoena four recently replaced U.S. attorneys as part of a widening probe into whether the Bush administration was politicizing the appointment of top prosecutors around the country. The action marked the first major use of subpoena power by the new Democratic-controlled Congress, and begins to fulfill a pledge of the Democratic leadership to scrutinize administration policies.

In its legal war on terrorism, the Bush administration has proved itself undeterred by apparent setbacks. Faced with challenges involving spying, military tribunals and other anti-terrorism efforts it devised after Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has revised its legal rationales and shifted tactics a bit. But to a remarkable degree, it has continued on the same course as before -- to the frustration of its many critics.

The Justice Department on Wednesday declined for the fourth time this year to endorse in court the constitutionality of a law designed to encourage citizens to become whistle-blowers and expose fraud against the government despite the fact that the department encouraged Congress to enact the measure in 1986. "The solicitor general is still considering the issue," said Amy Brown, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department's civil division.

A federal judge, declaring that "the nation demands an expeditious and complete disclosure of our government's involvement in the Iran- contra affair," Thursday threw out Lt. Col. Oliver L. North's constitutional attack on the independent counsel investigating the case. At the same time, however, the U.S.

The Bush administration can continue its warrantless surveillance program while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The president has said the program is needed in the war on terrorism; opponents argue it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals gave little explanation for the decision.

The Senate on Thursday approved President Bush's plan to question and try foreign terrorism suspects before military judges -- without oversight by the federal courts. Bush is expected to receive a bill he can sign into law in the next few days, but legal challenges almost assuredly will be pursued against the prosecution process, which the administration considers a key element in its war on terrorism.