The Bush Legacy

• the emergence of the use of torture
• secret prisons
• indefinite detention
• the denial of habeas corpus
• warrantless eavesdropping
• illegal domestic spying
• the politicization of the administration of criminal justice and of civil rights
• the claimed unilateral nullification of enacted legislation
• the claim that the failure by the president to comply with Executive Orders amounts to a secret and unwritten revocation or revision of such orders
• dictation of the terms of legislation by the president to Congress
• dictation of the terms of appropriations bills (heretofore known as the "power of the purse" by the president to Congress
• the declaration that federal judges are incompetent to rule on questions touching on "national security"
• the refusal of the "unitary executive" to permit the other branches to test its claims of "executive privilege"
• the refusal of the Justice Department to prosecute contempt of Congress charges against executive branch officials
• the staggering increase in the frequency of use of the "state secrets" privilege to block access to the courts
• the systematic suppression of scientific evidence regarding "administration" policies through the manipulation of administrative procedure