|
|
|
|
|
|
by bobtheborg
486 days ago
|
|
|
"authoritative interpretations of law FOR THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH." Suppose the National Security Agency comes up with a new tactic or operation and they want to know if it's legal. My guess is that previous to this EO, worker bees helped the NSA general counsel make a decision brief for the head of the NSA who then made the final legal/illegal decision. This memo means the AG or POTUS are now the decision makers. That's my reading of the memo anyway. |
|
|
Okay, but that's not what it says. The president or the AG can certainly provide advice to agencies, for whatever that's worth, but advising someone "Hey I think this new tactic is legal," is quite different from making a legal determination of legality (or interpretation of law), which is up to the courts.
Taken at face value, this executive order is seizing from the courts the power to determine the legality of policy.