Leahy: Cheney Forbid Use of Subpoenas in 109th Congress

August 20, 2007

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) revealed at a press conference that during the Republican-led 109th Congress, Vice President Dick Cheney informed Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that they were not allowed to issue subpoenas.

Amanda Terkel of Think Progress notes:

In fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee in the conservative-led 109th Congress, chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) also attempted to ask questions about the [domestic surveillance] program’s legal justifications. But Vice President Cheney personally barred him from issuing subpoenas:

In fact, we were about to issue subpoenas then and one of the senators came to our meeting and said that the vice president had met with the Republican senators and told them they were not allowed to issue subpoenas.

Not quite sure that’s my understanding of the separation of powers, but it seemed to work at that time.

Revelations that Vice President Dick Cheney, who essentially declared himself the fourth branch of government in recent weeks, interfered in the investigative processes of the Legislative branch constitutes a major breakdown in the constitutional separation of powers.

Watch the video from C-SPAN, courtesy of Think Progress:

http://video.thinkprogress.org/2007/08/senleahysubpoena.320.240.flv