Posted on 05/23/2019 7:38:22 AM PDT by billorites
When I came of age during the 1950s, liberals and civil libertarians were deeply concerned about the abuses of congressional investigations to expose communists and “fellow travelers.” Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy was using congressional committees to do his dirty work.
The committee leaders would claim that they had legitimate legislative purposes in subpoenaing actors, professors, and government employees to interrogate them about their past political affiliations. The purported purposes were to legislate more effective controls over communist influence in our government and to conduct oversight of the executive branch. Most liberals and civil libertarians saw through this ruse. The obvious purpose was to expose, embarrass, and unemploy left wing individuals associated with the Communist Party during the 1930s.
My law professor, mentor, and friend at the time, Telford Taylor, the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials after World War II, wrote a masterful critique of these bogus congressional hearings entitled “The Grand Inquest.” In it he provided an extensive history of the misuse of hearings for partisan and ideological purposes. He called for reform, including judicial oversight of congressional excesses. A young liberal lawyer named Abner Mikva, who later became a distinguished federal judge, wrote a glowing review of the book, though he criticized Taylor for not going far enough and not being enough of a true civil libertarian.
It is quite fair to say that back in the day, virtually all liberals and civil libertarians, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, wanted to impose restrictions on the power of Congress to investigate, subpoena, and question individuals for partisan or ideological purposes. Now the shoe is on the other foot. It is the Democrats who are abusing their congressional investigations for partisan and ideological purposes. It is the Democrats who are putting forward the phony arguments about legislative purposes, such as the need for new laws and congressional oversight. It is the Democrats in the House who are determined to misuse their legislative power to gain advantages in the upcoming elections.
Now it is the Republicans who are crying foul and who are claiming that the Democrats are abusing the power of the congressional committees they control. However, no one should be surprised by this shift in attitudes because most people, especially politicians, believe in due process “for me but not for thee.” Very few citizens advocate neutral rights for all.
The decision by Judge Amit Mehta to authorize broad congressional investigations of the Trump administration and President Trump himself, going back to well before he was a presidential candidate, could easily have been written by a right wing judge in the 1950s. It swallows, whole hog, the claimed legitimate legislative purposes put forward by those committees now led by the Democrats. It goes even further and suggests that a court has no power to probe the real motives behind legislative investigations, so long as the claimed motives are plausible. Under this decision that goes against civil liberties, Congress could investigate any person for any reason as long as it pretends to be doing so for a legitimate legislative purpose. The decision is an open invitation for abuse of power.
During the 1950s, the good old ACLU would be in court challenging abuses of congressional investigatory power, but the current ACLU has one dominant agenda, which is to oppose Trump regardless of the means used and to raise large sums of money based on this agenda. So the ACLU will not side with Trump in court. It will never side with Trump in court, regardless of how abusive congressional committees may become and regardless of how many rights are violated. The ACLU is now part of the problem, not part of the solution, for this rampant abuse of civil liberties.
Among the most important roles of the federal courts is to serve as a check and balance on the excesses of other branches of government, including the legislature. The courts should look beneath the claimed justifications for investigations of individuals and decide whether these justifications represent the real reasons behind the issuance of subpoenas and other exercises of congressional power. There should be a balancing test to weigh the legitimate interests of Congress against the rights of those targeted by its investigations. Congress should not be given carte blanche, as the decision by Judge Mehta gives it, to investigate anyone and anything for any purpose as long as the committee chairmen can recite the correct words as purported justifications for their actions.
All civil libertarians, whether Democrat, Republican, or independent, should indeed be concerned about abuses of power by congressional committees. Today, Donald Trump and his administration are the targets. Tomorrow, it may be Democrats. The next day, you could be the target.
No, Alan.
McCarthy only went after actual Soviet agents in the U.S. Government.
After the Soviet collapse the Venona project proved they were who Joe said they were.
You’re a douche, Alan.
Depending on the level & breadth of mathematics education, mathematics can if not careful lead you up the primrose path of everything is linear, predictable & calculable. Where you have little need to pay attention to physical constraints!
Actually he has been consistent in his views for decades. He has taken unpopular positions and represented unpopular people. Yes, he is a liberal but he believes in our Constitution and has done much to protect it.
Not McCarthyism it’s a massive cover up plan for Hillary FBI CIA skunks at least 10 people the can’t afford to have exposed.
It would end their control of D.C. swamp.
To late the jig is up body count to ensue.
Well duh!
I am surprised that he is finally asking it, however!
Turned out...McCarthy was right.
“McCarthyism” as it is commonly known......is the practice of making extreme accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.
The motives back then have little or nothing to do with it now.
This pedophile compares the current bunch of dirtbags to Senator McCarthy. According to him McCarthy’s efforts were a ruse. The only problem with Sen. McCarthy is that he underestimated the problem. There were far more communists in the government than he realized. Still the smear machine is still cranking out its lies. College professors teach McCarthy led the HUAC. This smear machine that destroyed John Tower and Judge Moore has been ineffective on Trump.
ladyjane, you might want to ask John Demjanjuk’s family about his belief in the Constitution. Steely Tom if you are amazed by these “intelligent people” following liberalism look up the image of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh driving by his adoring line of doctors, lawyers and college professors.
No, Mccarthy was after people who hated America, the Rats are after people like Trump, who love this country.
To keep control Lots of folks have died and will die. Or be trashed like McCarthy was, His memory tarnished until his very name is used as an swear word. They dream of doing this to Trump to a point where he will be cut from the history books and written up as a one term failure. My fear is they will assassinate him in there bid control the nation. When the truth comes out it will be ugly—if it ever does. Many years must pass before the picture of corruption will be seen by the people. Even then, many will refuse to believe it.
“They” will be coming after you too, Alan.
5.56mm
One big difference: McCarthy was 95% right. Today’s left is 100% wrong.
imho it’s a real time waster of Dershowitz to pose this question at this time.... I guess he has a lot on his plate , too, with his association to Jeff Epstein.
Refusal to believe it is futile the left is being exposed for the dangerous control of the government they make McCarthy look like a saint.
McCarthy isn’t looking so bad after all now people knows how Hollywood and other left reds operate.
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