Ahoy, Matey: Life Comes At Bill Kristol Fast

Bill Kristol is pushing a "Protect Mueller" bill which would forbid the president from doing that which the Constitution empowers him to do, that is, fire executive employees.

This is unconstitutional, obviously.

One argument which made the case that a related sort of office -- the "Independent Counsel" -- was unconstitutional was Scalia's dissent in Morrison v. Olsen. The independent counsel was a person performing executive branch functions who was not actually an executive branch employee (he was appointed by a three judge panel); Scalia thought this offended the Constitution. The "Protect Mueller" law would retroactively make Mueller an independent counsel -- raising all the same objections Scalia noted in his dissent.

And while his dissent wasn't law at the time, it has slowly become the dominant line of thought. If this arrangement were to come under court scrutiny now, Scalia's dissent might well become controlling law.

But don't take my word for it.

Below, Bill Kristol argues that the "Protect Mueller" bill he's slap-fighting for isn't unconstitutional because Scalia's dissent isn't law "(yet)" -- Kristol himself notes that it's headed in that direction. And he also argues that, hey, there's no need to strictly apply Article 2 of the Constitution. We can get loosey-goosey with it if we like.

#MuhPrinciples!

But also check out the other quotes stuffed into this tweet -- Kristol previously praising the Scalia dissent, and saying that Scalia was "vindicated" in 15 years and now everyone agrees with that.

Until, of course, the #MuhPrinciples crowd decided that their beloved #MuhPrinciples were as soft and squooshy as their silly-string spines.

"Just re-read Justice Scalia's dissent in Morrison v. Olson. Deserves to be included in any volume of classics of American political thought." -- Cruise Captain William "Biff" Kristol, 2016

"The Constitution is a stupid thing." -- Cruise Captain William "Biff" Kristol, 2018

Tell me all about your fucking eternal principles, you effeminate cuck cocksuckers.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:04 PM

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