Christmas Comes Twice a Year

In one of those blink-or-you-might-miss-it moments, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page is micturating on the Bush Administration:

The Senate response to the White House's unprecedented decision to release 75,000 pages of documents relating to John Roberts's tenure in the Reagan administration gives new meaning to the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

[snip]


... By authorizing the release of documents from Judge Roberts's work in the Reagan Justice Department and White House Counsel's office, the Bush administration had made it that much harder to refuse Democratic demands for his later work product from the Solicitor General's office. More important, it makes it harder for the White House to defend the vital constitutional principle of executive privilege.

... It is essential for the workings of government that decision-makers hear the candid views of the people who work for them. That won't happen if they believe Dick Durbin might one day be reading from their memos on the Senate floor. ...

[snip]

In releasing the papers from Judge Roberts's days on the Attorney General's staff (1981-82) and in the White House Counsel's office (1982-86), the White House acted unilaterally, without waiting for a formal request from the Senate Judiciary Committee. We can understand making public the earlier documents, which had been cleared for release by the Clinton administration in 1998. But the decision to release the White House documents is harder to justify.

A President needs confidential advice from his White House lawyers as much as he needs it from his Justice Department. Advice from lawyers working in both offices is part of the deliberative process and is covered both by attorney-client privilege and the broader doctrine of executive privilege. When President Clinton nominated Stephen Breyer for the High Court, Republicans didn't demand documents relating to his work in the Attorney General's office or for the Watergate prosecution. The Roberts precedent sets a new standard, making it harder for Presidents to say no to document demands on future nominees.

[snip]

As for the 75,000 pages, Senate staffers and reporters are dissecting them, looking for material to use at the coming confirmation hearings. Writings on civil rights and school prayer are already being mentioned as possible "trouble" areas, and they will certainly be taken out of their historical context. No thanks to the White House document dump, Judge Roberts's confirmation may now be harder than it should have been.

To which TS says, "Information is the currency of democracy." Care to pick a fight with Jefferson?

Anyone?

[crickets chirping]