Never in the history of the United States has anyone contended that the Vice President is outside the executive branch. Never. Not even during last call at a bar outside of the country’s worst law school.
But then, in 2004, Dick Cheney needed to circumvent the National Archives’ oversight of how his office handles classified information, and suddenly the vice president hovers in the constitutional equivalent of Purgatory, belonging to neither the executive nor the legislative branches. Poor Cactus Jack Garner: he thought the veep’s job wasn’t worth “a warm bucket of spit,” when in fact the office bestrides constitutional governance like an all-powerful colossus.
It’s hard to dignify Cheney’s argument. But at her press conference today, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino managed to further undignify it, calling the question of the placement of the Vice President within the government ” an interesting constitutional question that legal scholars can debate.” To Perino, who generously conceded she is “not a lawyer,” the role of the VP is “unique”:
Let the debate begin.
From today’s press conference:
Reporter: What do you make of what Congressman Waxman referred to as absurd, which was the Vice Presidentâs contention that his office is not part of the executive branch?
Dana Perino: What I think isâ¦as I said, I think that is an interesting constitutional question that people can debate, what I think is absurd is (background noise) what I think is absurd is Chairman Waxman asserting, I think what is absurd is Chairman Waxman asserting some sort of authority over the President regarding an executive order of which he is the sole enforcer.
Reporter: Do you agree with the contention that the office of the Vice President is not part of the executive branch?
Dana Perino: What I know, and Iâm not a lawyer, and this is an interesting constitutional question that legal scholars can debate, and Iâm sure youâll find plenty of them inside the beltway, is that the Vice President has a unique role in our United States government, he is not only the Vice President of the United States but in that role he is also the President of the Senate. I will let that debate be held, but what Iâm answering questions on, in regards to this morning, is Chairman Waxmanâs accusations about this small provision, going back and reading the EO and realizing that the President did not intend to have the Vice President treated any differently than himself, and remembering that the executive order is enforced solely by the President of the Untied States. I think this is a little bit of a non-issue.
