Civil Rights

A long-standing Weekend Watchdog question is why Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hadn't exercised his authority to issue a subpoena to Karl Rove and other White House officials and their role in the Prosecutor Purge.

Since then, several staffers have been subpoenaed. But today, Leahy finally subpoenaed Rove and his deputy.

Why has it taken this long? Leahy's speech on the Senate floor indicates his team was patiently collecting evidence to justify taking this step: more »

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Purely by chance, I was in the middle of reading Katharine Graham’s autobiography when President Bush commuted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s sentence.

I had just reached the part where Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post during the Watergate era, was despairing as the trail grew cold. The Post had published a connection between the Watergate burglary and the Nixon re-election campaign, but crucial connections continued to elude them. Graham worried whether her paper could conclusively prove all of the claims.

The conviction of the Watergate burglars changed everything. James McCord had been sentenced to prison, but before the gates clanged shut he offered to trade information for leniency. The case broke open. “What a relief,” Graham wrote 20 years later.

Today the American people may be denied that relief. more »

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For the third week in a row, the Sunday shows go 0-for-3 for the Watchdog.

None of the shows raised the possibility that the commutation of Scooter Libby's jail sentence is an act of obstruction of justice, even though the Founders did not believe the pardon power gives the President the right to "stop inquiry and prevent detection" of crimes associated with himself.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos said, "the constitution basically says the president can do whatever he wants," and Fox News Sunday guest host Brit Hume said Bush was "exercising authority that no one seems to dispute that he fully has".

CBS' Face The Nation guest host Jim Axelrod at least asked Sen. Orrin Hatch, "Are you disputing that this was special treatment given to a top administration official?"

Also, NBC's Meet The Press failed to ask Sen. Chuck Hagel if he agrees with other Republicans who criticize the "surge" and want reduced troop levels, but still support occupying Iraq indefinitely.

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