I Hope You Know That This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record

[Title courtesy of the Violent Femmes]

This morning, Tony Snow failed his class in Constitutional scholarship.

The executive branch is under no compulsion to testify to Congress, because Congress in fact doesn't have oversight ability.

Someone should do some more research outside of the White House before spouting off.

In 1927, the Court found that, in investigating the administration of the Department of Justice, Congress was considering a subject “on which legislation could be had or would be materially aided by the information which the investigation was calculated to elicit.”
[Citing McGrain v Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135]

Congress has the power of oversight. It is simple. In order to make legislation, it must be able to ascertain the facts of the matter. And in order to make legislation that affects the Executive Branch, which has included the very creation of the Department of Justice, it must be able to ensure that it receives the facts of the matter.

Honestly. It took me 5 minutes in Google to find this, and I'm not even a trained attorney. I'm not even a professional researcher or spin jockey. You'd think that, with all the resources of the White House Press Office, someone in there would have found this datum point before Tony Snow looked like an idiot on national television.

Wouldn't you?