Opinion: In today’s pages: Pushing privilege, Hollywood-izing Harry Potter
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The editorial board cautions the president against pushing executive privilege too far:
Both sides are arguing from positions of weakness. For Congress, the problems are legal and practical. Just as the devil can quote Scripture, Bush can cite the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court. The 1974 case of U.S. vs. Nixon is remembered mostly for its bottom line — that President Nixon had to surrender incriminating White House tape recordings to a special prosecutor. But in reaching that result, the court essentially held that the Watergate investigation was the exception that proved the rule.... Presidents should be able to confide in aides and to solicit advice without it being made public. President Eisenhower memorably refused to allow associates to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee during its run amok. There are limits to that privacy, however, and that too is appropriate.
The board acknowledges that smart growth hasn’t fulfilled its promise, but maintains that the urban development philosophy isn’t a failure. Taking a look at the Orange County transit strike, the board praises riders for coming up with alternative ways to get to work.
Film critic Richard Schickel takes a look at Hollywood’s literary adaptations, from ‘Anna Karenina’ to the latest Harry Potter installment. A former 9th Circuit Court clerk and current Vanderbilt professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick considers why that body is overturned more than any other appeals court. Columnist Ronald Brownstein wants to save and improve No Child Left Behind instead of scrapping it.
On the letters page, see what Lake Forest’s Scott Bryant proposes as an eighth wonder of the world.