Tomorrow, June 27 at 10:00 a.m., Northwestern University Law Professor, Founding Father of the Federalist Society, Founding Father of the Unitary Executive, and self-professed creator of the presidential signing statement Steven Calabresi will be on hand to take your questions at the Washington Post.
Calabresi's book on the unitary executive is due out next month (my co-edited book on the same subject will follow). You can submit your questions now.
The Post is tying Calabresi's visit with today's Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing on "Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules." This hearing had, as "invited" guests, former Clinton OLC head Christopher Schroeder, and representing the Bush administration, VP chief of staff David Addington, and former OLC-honcho John Yoo. Of course the real focus was on Addington and Yoo, with Schroeder playing the straight man.
For most folks who are interested in issues of presidential power and watch C-SPAN, this was probably your first time to actually SEE and HEAR David Addington, and I am willing to bet that many of you were surprised to see his did not have horns on head or a spiked tail and fangs. For nearly everyone who has written on Addington, all have noted how he gets his way by bullying others in meetings, that he is sarcastic, and that he has a mind for legal details. And that was on display today. He got into a testy exchange with Robert Delahunty of Mass, who wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Any way, their exchange involved Al Qaeda, classified information, and C-SPAN. Or better yet, when asked if he would be willing to come back and testify, perhaps in executive committee, over information that was privileged or classified. Yoo said he would be glad to come back if necessary and Addington flatly said "no." He didn't deal in any privileged information, and when challenged that he did refuse to comment on classified information, to which he said: "I am here now. Ask me whatever you want."
The best is the submitted testimony. Schroeder and Yoo, being law faculty, submit their 20 page or so report. Addington does not submit anything. Added for him is a 51 page series of letters between the Committee and Addington or his lawyer.
By the way--it did come up today. Question: "Is the vice president an executive branch agent or a legislative agent?" The answer was several paragraphs and didn't come any closer to clearing up the mystery!
