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Clinton: Cheney flouts laws

NY senator praises Supreme Court decision on war crimes trials as proper, saying White House was trying to change U.S. Constitution

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

June 30, 2006

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Supreme Court's Guantanamo Bay ruling is a major denunciation of Vice President Dick Cheney and his attempts to "rewrite" the Constitution, flout international law and hoard power in the executive branch.

Clinton, speaking to Newsday after the ruling, blamed the White House for ignoring critics who say proposed enemy combatant trials at Guantanamo violate U.S. laws and the Geneva Conventions.

"I thought the Supreme Court was absolutely right," said the New York Democrat, who is urging President George W. Bush to hammer out a new trial system with both parties in Congress.

The presumptive Democratic presidential frontrunner quickly switched gears to sharply criticize Cheney, whose office was key to crafting the administration's Guantanamo policy.

"A very small group of people operating primarily out of the vice president's office decided to rewrite our laws, our treaties, our constitution, instead of recognizing that you can't do that in a country that is built on the rule of law," Clinton said.

Cheney and aides espouse the "unitary executive theory," which grants presidents the broadest possible powers, especially in times of war.

"I think that there has been a concerted effort by this administration, led by the vice president, to consolidate power within the executive to an extent never seen before in our country - not during civil war, not during world war, not during depression," Clinton said.

"We've paid a big price for their efforts to consolidate power against the whole constitutional theory under which we operate."

Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, dismissed Clinton's comments: "While this administration remains committed to doing whatever is necessary to keep our country safe, Hillary Clinton remains committed to saying whatever is necessary to further her political future."

Cheney's prominent role in the war on terror has long earned Democratic scorn. He has frequently lobbied GOP congressional leaders who try to regulate detainee trials.

In December, he failed to block a torture ban pushed through Congress by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"For the life of me I don't understand why they think all of the energy, all of the wisdom resides in a small group of people in the White House and Defense Department," Clinton said. "They think they know it all, and I think that's dangerous to a democracy."

Clinton was less expansive when asked what shape a new Guantanamo judicial system should take.

"We don't know yet because we obviously have to construct it," she said.