Doonesbury and Bush's Papers

[jsc1953]

Sunday’s Doonesbury contains a line that indicates that Pres Bush’s papers are “locked up forever, per his orders.”

What, if anything, is this referring to? Trudeau doesn’t usually invent things out of whole cloth.

(This may turn into a Great Debate, but for now it has a factual answer.)

[Will_Repair]

One of the first offical things G. W. Bush did was to lengthen the time before presidental papers are available to the office. G. H. W. Bush’s papers were due to be released but his presidental order delayed that time.

[Will_Repair]

er…change office to public

Cite

[Little_Nemo]

Amazing press story in the link:

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales said any decision to withhold documents could be challenged in court, adding that the administration would lose if a decision did not have solid constitutional grounding. He acknowledged that the process could take years.

So you can accept the Bush order and not see the papers for years. Or you can challenge it in court and not see the papers for years. A clear statement of how the Bush administration views the court system: they should be allowed to function as long as their activities are irrelevant.

A Clinton aide said a representative of the president objected to the decision in a recent letter to the White House, arguing that sufficient protections are already on the books. “A government’s legitimacy is based on the trust of its people, and when decisions are made on behalf of the American people, citizens eventually have to be able to see the process of how those decisions came to be,” the aide said. The letter was written by Bruce Lindsey, Clinton’s deputy White House counsel and now a lawyer for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

However, Gonzales said a major reason for the new executive order, which rescinds one signed by Reagan, is that the previous one “gives no deference whatsoever to the opinions of a former president.”

I can’t think of a punchline that tops Gonzales’ own statement.

[Lightnin]

@Will Repair

One of the first offical things G. W. Bush did was to lengthen the time before presidental papers are available to the office. G. H. W. Bush’s papers were due to be released but his presidental order delayed that time.

Jeez, I completely missed this when it happened, I guess. Did anyone in the administration ever say why he doesn’t want anyone to read his papers?

What’s in these papers, anyway?

[dropzone]

What the vice-president knew, and when. In the case of GHWB’s veep, “not much” and “usually.”

[Will_Repair]

@Lightnin'

What’s in these papers, anyway?

The $64,000 question!

As to speculation about why, as the article stated a lot of G.W. Bush’s administration were also in G.H.W. Bush’s administration. See The Vulcans.

[R.P.McMurphy]

This begs the next question:

When a new president takes office can he issue a new Executive order that shortens the time and effectively overturns the GWB order without the matter becoming a court or constitutional issue?

[Frelling_Tralk]

Given that this order was enacted in 2001, has anyone challenged it in the last four years?