So much for the “unprecedented level of openness in Government” promised by our Nobel Laureate in Chief. While Attorney General Eric Holder continues stonewalling the Civil Rights Commission on the Justice Department’s stunning dismissal of the civil-rights case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia, we now learn the State Department is stonewalling Congress on the legal reasoning behind the administration’s support for Chavez-wannabe, Manuel Zelaya.
Sen. Jim DeMint writes in the Wall Street Journal about his factfinding visit to Honduras, where Zelaya — a thuggish would-be dictator who was trying to destroy the rule of law in his country — was ousted as president in a manner consistent with the Honduran constitution. The Obama administration – which couldn’t roll over fast enough when Ahmadinejad had to steal the already-rigged Iranian “election” and the regime brutally jailed, tortured and killed dissenters — is playing hardball with Honduras (at least when it’s not slapping Israel and the Dalai Lama around), demanding that the thug be restored to power. But, as Senator DeMint notes, “the only thorough examination of the facts to date — conducted by a senior analyst at the Law Library of Congress — confirms the legality and constitutionality of Mr. Zelaya’s ouster. (It’s on the Internet here.)”
So why is the administration bullying a poor, tiny, Western democracy? DeMint continues:
In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens. When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a “coup,” he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department’s top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh’s report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied. [Emphasis added.]
As Ed Whelan and I pointed out when Koh was up for confirmation, the former Yale Law School dean is the nation’s leading transnationalist. He has zero respect for national constitutions (including ours), preferring a post-sovereign order in which international law profs, transnational organizations, and free-lancing judges will be our overlords. What is happening with Honduras is exactly what anyone who familiarized himself with Koh’s record would have predicted. Yet, he was confirmed by a 62–35 margin, with support from the usual GOP suspects: Lugar, Voinovich, Snowe, Collins, and Martinez.
Will these Republicans who helped foist Koh on us now join others demanding that President Transparency release Koh’s legal opinion on Honduras? (I won’t ask about the 19 Republican senators who thought Holder would be a fabulous, non-political Attorney General . . .)