Executive Power Curtailed

Per the New York Times

"President Bush’s top advisers must honor subpoenas issued by Congress, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a case that involves the firings of several United States attorneys but has much wider constitutional implications for the two branches of government.

“The executive’s current claim of absolute immunity from compelled Congressional process for senior presidential aides is without any support in the case law,” Judge John D. Bates ruled in United States District Court here."

Finally some restoration of the power of the Constitution!

Even though there is always a struggle over the balance of power between our three branches of government, the past eight years have been especially damaging to the system of checks and balances. President Bush's use of signing statements to circumvent certain aspects of bills brought to his desk has eroded the rule of law governing all citizens, including those in the executive branch.

Going further than the signing statements and invoking Richard Nixon, the Bush White House has repeatedly used executive privilege as a way out of answering to the deeds they have committed. This ruling by Judge Bates, a 2001 Bush appointee, re-establishes, albeit "very limited," an important detail to the system of checks and balances and allocates lost power back to Congress.

While the history of power struggle amongst the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the U.S. government has been raging since the United States' founding, seeing such people as Karl Rove, Josh Bolten, and Harriet Miers brought in front of a Congressional committee to answer for their disregard of the rule of law will be particularly satisfying.