Hinchey to Testify Before House Judiciary Committee on Bush Administration's Violations of Law

Press Release

Hinchey To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee on Bush Administration's Violations of Law

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, July 25, 2008 during a hearing entitled, "Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations." Hinchey will highlight the reasons he co-authored two resolutions with U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) that formally condemn President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and former Attorney General Gonzales for misconduct regarding U.S. military involvement in Iraq and for repeated assaults on the rule of law. The hearing begins at 10:00am and can be viewed via the House Judiciary Committee's webcast at: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/calendar.html.

"President Bush and senior members of his administration have repeatedly defied the Constitution, violated the law, put our country in jeopardy, and made a mockery of our judicial system," Hinchey said. "This hearing will enable the facts to be presented in a clear and straightforward way so that the Congress and the American people can more fully understand just how corruptly this administration has operated. With an eye toward the future, we must ensure that history books note that this Congress stood up to this administration and formally admonished it for all its violations of law."

The censure resolutions regarding Iraq, S.Res.302 and H.Res.625, condemn the president and vice president for: misleading the nation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime and about Saddam's links to al Qaeda and 9/11; inadequate planning for military action in Iraq; overstraining the military and undermining homeland security; and misleading the nation about the strength of the insurgency.

The censure resolutions regarding the rule of law, S.Res.303 and H.Res.626, condemn the president and former attorney general for: authorizing the illegal NSA warrantless wiretapping program; pursuing extreme policies concerning torture and the treatment of detainees; detaining enemy combatants indefinitely without charges, access to a lawyer, or habeas rights; unilaterally authorizing flawed military commissions that were subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court; misleading Congress and the public about, and obstructing investigations into, the firings of U.S. Attorneys; making misleading statements regarding civil liberties abuses under the Patriot Act; and undermining acts of Congress with signing statements based on extreme theories of executive power.

Hinchey has also led the call for criminal investigations into claims made by the Bush administration between January 20 and January 29, 2003 -- which are now known to be false -- that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons from Niger. These claims were at the very core of the president's final justification for war, and were made despite broad internal disagreement over their veracity. Since it is against the law to lie to Congress, it is fully possible that the Bush Administration's claims of an Iraq-Niger connection were illegal -- especially given the venues at which the claims were delivered (including President Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address before Congress).

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