Aught Seven, Act Two, Scene Four: The Americas, D.C. Division

George W. is the Will of America (at least its voters)
On May 1st, President Bush vetoes an Iraq spending bill that includes a timetable for troop withdrawal. Later in May, the Democrat-controlled Congress passes a bill allocating $100 billion for war spending without a timetable for troop withdrawal. Some say Congressional Democrats allowed the vote to reach the House and Senate floors despite widespread opposition among their ranks because they didn't want to go on Memorial Day break while soldiers remained wanting. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tells reporters she will “never vote for such a thing” just before finalizing the bill with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (on the right in the photo above on the right), who calls the legislation proof of “great progress.” Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois tells his Democratic colleagues that he will reluctantly support the measure because “we do not have it within our power to make the will of America the law of the land.”

Libby Walks
On June 5th, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney is sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the identity of the government official who revealed the identity of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame (whose husband criticized the Bush administration). (CNN) On July 2nd, Bush commutes Libby's prison sentence with a Grant of Executive Clemency. (Reuters) (Whitehouse.gov) At a press conference later in July, Bush admits for the first time that someone in his administration may have leaked Plame's name of CIA agent. (WSJ)

Oh, yes he can!
On June 11th, a federal appeals court rules that President George W. Bush cannot indefinitely imprison U.S. residents on suspicion alone, and orders the government either to charge Qatari national Ali Saleh Kahla Al-Marri, a university student who was arrested in December 2001 and declared an enemy combatant, or release him. “The President,” the panel says, “cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen.”

Protecting White Schoolchildren from Brown
On June 28th, The United States Supreme Court rules that plans to admit students to schools based partially on their race violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection. (CNN) The majority opinion was written by Roberts (b. 1955) with Alito ('50), Kennedy ('36), Scalia ('36) and Thomas ('48) joining (Kennedy dissented on some points). Breyer ('38) wrote the dissenting opinion, with Justices Ginsberg ('33), Souter ('39) and Stevens ('20) joining. More bad news: liberal Ford-appointee Stevens (see photo at right) will likely be the next Justice to go.

Alberto: ¡Vaya con Dios! (a una calle oscura donde sufrirás justicia divina)
In May, James B. Comey, deputy for former attorney general John Ashcroft, testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee that on March 10, 2004, Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card attempted to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize the Bush Administration's domestic surveillance program, even though the Justice Department had just determined that the program was illegal. Ashcroft, who was hospitalized and had temporarily given up his authority as attorney general to Comey at the time, refused. Senate Democrats called for a vote of no confidence in Gonzales.

On July 31 Gonzales testifies that no one in the Bush Administration had voiced objections to the NSA's wiretapping program. FBI director Robert Mueller testifies that the surveillance program was “much discussed” by other officials. Senate Judiciary chair Patrick Leahy of Vermont sends Mr. Gonzales a transcript of his testimony and asks him to “mark any changes you wish to make to correct, clarify or supplement your answers so that, consistent with your oath, they are the whole truth.”

On September 10th TIME summarizes Gonzalez’s record as: 1) Approving torture; 2) Domestic spying; 3) Politicizing justice; 4) Limiting habeus corpus and 5) “executive records” (Gonzalez drafted an Executive Order allowing Bush to refuse to release papers from previous administrations, allowing him to cover for his father and other Reagan Administration officials).