Cheney the Legislator update

I've colonized the Friday open thread over at Stubborn Facts in search of a respectable legal opinion on Cheney's claim that his office isn't part of the executive branch. You can follow the discussion there if you like, and if either Pat or Simon weighs in with a fuller opinion I'll link to it.

Update: Both the L.A. Times and the Washington Post weigh in -- with the Post piece doing a good job of outlining Cheney's long obsession with secrecy. It also quotes the Justice Department saying that it's looking into the matter.

Update II: The press grills White House spokeswoman Dana Perino about the matter, and gets the runaround.

As you get further into it, she seems to be saying that yes, the president meant for the OVP to be exempt from reporting requirements. But she says that's because the president views the OVP as being essentially the same as the office of the president in this matter. The question, then, is why the president's office and the White House are complying with the EO if they're exempt. Again, it's the OVP that's the outlier.

And she doesn't even try to address Cheney's argument that his office isn't part of the executive branch.

She does, however, seemingly answer one of my questions from yesterday, which is that Congress has no authority to enforce or otherwise question how an EO is being carried out. They can attack the EO itself in various ways, but if Bush wants to let Cheney run wild, he can.

Cheney, politics, midtopia