Of course, I am opposed to Whittemore. I had never heard of him until last Monday. Whittemore is a permanent government appointee and cannot be removed unless the House impeaches him and the Senate convicts. GWB could have used the National Guard to enforce the law of March 21 after Whittemore and the three-judge panel refused to grant the de novo hearing.
Unfortunately, there were those in Congress who insisted on changing the wording of that law from "shall" grant a de novo hearing to "may" grant a de novo hearing.
So Whittemore was within the letter of the law to not grant a de novo hearing, but he sure ignored the intent of the law.
Because of the weak wording of that law, GWB can't use the National Guard to enforce it.
The whole thing is very very sad. But GWB is not the one at fault in all of this.