Ron Paul taps adviser who drafted articles of impeachment against Obama

[ProSense]

Ron Paul taps adviser who drafted articles of impeachment against Obama

by Jed Lewison

Via Dave Weigel, the Ron Paul presidential campaign announces:

The Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign announced today that constitutional and international law expert Bruce Fein will join the campaign as senior advisor on legal matters.

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Fein also supported impeaching George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Bill Clinton, but the thing he's known for now is trying to impeach President Obama, and it's hard to see his selection by Paul as anything more than a pretty loud dog whistle to far right activists. Paul prides himself on being a man of principle, but as you may recall, he enjoys boasting that Ronald Reagan actually endorsed his early campaigns for Congress. And yes, that would be the same Ronald Reagan who invaded Grenada without Congressional approval. Yet despite the fact that Reagan actually sent ground troops in, and Americans died, somehow you don't hear Ron Paul or his minions arguing for Reagan's impeachment, yet they do for President Obama. I wonder why.

"Why Ron Paul is good for America"?

[bigdarryl]

1. What's he trying to impeace him for being BLACK

[ProSense]

2. Well,

given all the bullshit innuendo aimed at the President, it's actually hilarious to read the comments defending Paul.

When did criticizing a kook and a Republican enabler become a "cheap shot"?

[MilesColtrane]

5. For being a "Canadian"

It's their new code word.

[ProSense]

3. No other comments? n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Ron Paul signed on to articles of impeachment against Clinton BEFORE the Lewsinski scandal broke

[ProSense]

6. Paul is a kook, and Fein's only goal

in criticizing every President since Reagan is to protect Reagan's legacy. Has he ever said anything negative about the invasion of Grenada?

He supported Robert's nomination to the SCOTUS. Fein

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That is why the two should support Judge Roberts’ nomination as chief justice.

That was a perfect opportunit for Fein to criticize the unitary executive. Roberts was the person who argued that the invasion of Grenada was legal, WaPo:

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Olson was not the only person with whom Roberts was willing to match legal wits. In a memo dated Jan. 13, 1984, he summarily dismissed retired Supreme Court justice Arthur Goldberg's concerns, expressed in a private letter to the White House, that the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada was unconstitutional.

"Goldberg is correct that the constitution vests the authority to declare war in the Congress," he said. The president, however, "has inherent authority in the international area to defend American lives and interests," an authority that "has been recognized since at least the time President Jefferson sent the marines to the shores of Tripoli. While there are no clear lines separating what the president can do on his own and what requires a formal declaration of war, the Grenada mission seems to be clearly acceptable."

Roberts adopted a similarly expansive view of presidential powers in his review of the proposed Immigration Emergency Act. The bill was drafted in response to the 1980 Mariel boatlift crisis that brought 125,000 Cuban refugees to U.S. shores. Roberts noted that the legislation would have allowed the United States to "flexibly detain" illegal immigrants as well as "freely transport them between detention facilities." He said: "It is a broad grant of emergency powers to the President, but I cannot conclude that it is too broad in light of the Mariel experience."

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Bruce Fein, a Reagan Justice Department official who also worked for the Congressional staff helping Representative Dick Cheney defend the White House during the Iran/contra scandal, has pilloried the Bush Administration over its power grabs and called for Vice President Cheney to be impeached for "his sneering contempt of the Constitution and the rule of law."

link

It almost appears that Fein's criticism of the Bush administration is to deflect attention away from the very real fact that the views of Alito and Roberts were espoused by the Reagan administration.