The inevitable confirmation of Samuel Alito for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court may seem to many to be one of those routine transactions between branches of government. In fact, it is part of a larger picture that ought to frighten and outrage Americans of every political stripe. President Bush has, in recent years, asserted "inherent powers" and "exclusive authority" regardless of laws passed by Congress and language in the U.S. Constitution - and has used the purported powers as a reason to withhold information and exclude Congress from decisions. On occasion, the court, with the support of outgoing...