To the Editor:
During the years George W. Bush has occupied the White House, John Yoo has been the chief legal architect of an imperial presidency, subordinating the role of Congress and bypassing constitutional provisions for the balance of power.
Now that Barack Obama is soon to take office, Mr. Yoo and John R. Bolton, the pertinacious former ambassador to the United Nations, are rushing to turn the tables and agitating to eviscerate presidential authority.
Their motives are transparent and appalling.
Martha D. Trowbridge
New York, Jan. 5, 2009
Note from KBJ: Their motives are irrelevant to their argument, which stands or falls on its merits. To see the irrelevance, imagine someone with impeccable motives making the same argument. Martha D. Trowbridge would have nothing to say.
