April 26, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the Senate Judiciary Committee proposal to shield Special Counsel Robert Mueller or any future special counsel from firing:
“Americans for Limited Government has always been a leading group in support of Congress reaffirming its constitutional Article I powers. Senator Mike Lee is the leader of the Senate’s Article I project and has correctly noted that today’s Senate Judiciary Committee action is an unconstitutional attempt to protect a Justice Department at-will, political appointee from firing, effectively stripping the President of his constitutional, Article II power to execute the laws. He is not a civil servant and can be removed at any time.
“Even you disagree with Sen. Lee on the constitutionality of the Judiciary Committee’s proposal, this is still a disastrous idea. By taking away the Executive Branch’s ability to remove a Special Counsel without judicial approval, the Judiciary Committee is effectively creating a permanent position. Once appointed, the Attorney General or Acting Attorney General will be stripped of any meaningful oversight of the actions of the Special Counsel. In effect, the Judiciary Committee proposal would make this and any future Special Counsel one of the most powerful people in the world, able to engage in unending investigations of the President or anyone else without meaningful oversight or worse, with blind eye turned on his misconduct.
“In the case of Robert Mueller, his appointment itself is illegitimate because it does not comport with the regulatory requirement that a specific crime be cited by the Acting Attorney General to be investigated. This failure was used by Mueller to cast and recast wider and wider nets desperately seeking crimes that are far afield from the initial allegations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has made a mistake in even considering this ill-conceived legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is 100 percent correct in not wasting any floor time on it.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
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