Why does Bush think "executive privilege" means he can do whatever he wants?

Question

Is it his grasp of the law or just his lack of a grasp on what it means to be civilized?

Answer 1

It's like he ripped up the constitution and put it in his back pocket. Someone should give him the remedial reading version of a kids book called "How To Be A President". I think he knows what he's doing though and just doesn't care.

Answer 2

Executive Privilege -- dates back a few decades (not to the founding of the nation). It protects specific confidential communications to/from the President that are deemed necessary for the president to be able to perform his job.

Executive Privilege was first recognized by the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1 (1953) under federal rules of procedure. In Gravel v. US, the Court noted that "executive privilege has never been applied to shield executive officers from prosecution for crime". 408 U.S. 606 (1972). There have been 24 other cases decided by the Supreme Court that address and define it limits.

Most recently, the Court commented that "Executive privilege is an extraordinary assertion of power not to be lightly invoked. " Cheney v. US Dist.Ct for DC, 542 U.S. 367 (2004).
In in Rubin v. United States, the court commented that testimony and documents may be compelled, "unless those conversations clearly fall within the bounds of 'executive privilege,' the bounds of which are unclear". 525 U.S. 990 (1998).

Answer 3

Every president for the past 50 years or so has exercised Executive Privilege at one time or the other. Does that mean that every other president has had no grasp of the law?

Answer 4

Good question. I seriously believe that Bush buys into the "most powerful man in the world" misnomer when it comes to his job.

The President of the United States is, in fact, the most powerful man in the world - but that doesn't make him omnipotent. Bush claims unilateral privileges he isn't actually granted by the U.S. Constitution. It's a little frightening, and it's good insight into how dictatorships come into being.

Answer 5

Bush is using the powers of the Presidency given him by the Constitution. Get over it for the millionth time.