Is Congress wasting its time on H.R. 1531 (re: Bush pardons)?

There is no question that the Bush administration has abused its power: Intelligence is manipulated. Science is silenced. Torture is routine. Bush's goons spy warrantlessly not only on foreigners of interest but on U.S. citizens as well. Signing statements are the norm. The Constitution is systematically dismantled. And White House advisors thumb their noses at Congressional subpoenas.

Now that Bush is less than two months away from a one-way ticket back to Texas, people are bracing themselves for more pardons in addition to the ones that Bush has already granted.

And some are wondering if Bush will abuse his presidential pardon power via preemptive pardons for administration officials, and possibly even for himself.

To that end, last week Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced H.R. 1531, "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President of the United States should not issue pardons to senior members of his administration during the final 90 days of his term of office."

Here are some excerpts from the bill:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President of the United States should not issue pardons to senior members of his administration during the final 90 days of his term of office.

[...]

Whereas the Supreme Court has observed that '[a] pardon reaches both the punishment prescribed for the offence and the guilt of the offender; and when the pardon is full, it releases the punishment and blots out of existence the guilt, so that in the eye of the law the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offence. [...] ;

Whereas during the Constitutional convention, George Mason expressed the concern that a president could abuse his pardon power to 'pardon crimes which were advised by himself' or, before indictment or conviction, 'to stop inquiry and prevent detection';

[...]

Whereas investigations by Congressional committees, and press reports, raise serious concerns that senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush may have committed crimes involving the mistreatment of detainees, the extraordinary rendition of individuals to countries known to engage in torture, illegal surveillance of United States citizens, unlawful leaks of classified information, obstruction of justice, political interference with the conduct of the Justice Department, and other illegal acts;

Whereas President George W. Bush has been urged to grant preemptive pardons to senior administration officials who might face criminal prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties; and

[...]

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That--

(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the granting of preemptive pardons by the President to senior officials of his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties is a dangerous abuse of the pardon power;

(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should not grant preemptive pardons to senior officials in his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties;

(3) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that James Madison was correct in his observation that '[i]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty';

(4) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a special investigative commission, or a Select Committee be tasked with investigating possible illegal activities by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush, including, if necessary, any abuse of the President's pardon power; and

(5) the next Attorney General of the United States appoint an independent counsel to investigate, and, where appropriate, prosecute illegal acts by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush.

This all sounds good. In fact, it's music to my ears.

But will it fly? I doubt it.

After all, the Democratic majority in Congress has done little in the past four years to effectively curtail Bush's abuses of power. Whenever some have tried, they have failed.

And Bush doesn't follow the rules anyway. He makes them up as he goes along. In his mind, he and his cronies are above the law. And they always manage to get away with it.

So is H.R. 1531 just another waste of time?

I hope not. I hope that having Barack Obama in the White House and more Dems in the Senate will help. But only time will tell. At this point, I've all but given up hope of seeing the Bush administration held accountable for its crimes against the Constitution, this nation, and the world.

But I will not be quiet.