noteworthy wrote:
Your implication may be true, and I agree with your statement of What This Is About. But perhaps the implication conflates a few things, and it ends up either: giving the administration undue credit for an insight that wasn't theirs; or painting the picture of a grand conspiracy that seems far too sophisticated to be credible, given the actors.

This is interesting but even if its true the just do it orders were based on philosophy that is at the core of the modern Conservative movement... one which Justice Thomas has expounded... that the changes wrought in the wake of the Nixon scandal went too far and its time to reestablish a more powerful executive. One of the key changes made in the 70's was an extraconstitutional regulation (FISA) of the executive's surveillance powers and this is a clock the administration clearly seeks to wind back.

I don't think this was their insight personally but its a standard they bore with them into the Whitehouse which has colored a collection of their policy decisions. It wasn't merely a systemic accident. Note the recent public statements of Jack Goldsmith.

The reason this philosophy is wrong is not merely because (as Goldsmith argues) it is counter productive. It is wrong because these rules are the product of hard learned lessons. They can be refined but you cannot simply throw them away and expect not to learn the same lessons again the hard way. This administration has failed to grasp that in context after context. The evidence will not be available for a long time.

RE: What This Is About