On the David/Emily/Dahlia/Orin chat about how many are minding the unitary executive’s store in selling the
Heller
case to the court, I agree with Orin’s speculation that there are certainly some (conservative) base politics at work here in the VP’s amicus brief. But the visible inelegance with which this particular operation has been carried out smacks more of a lame-duck executive than a binary (much less unitary) one. Could just be me, but I’ve had the increasing impression that there’s no one in particular minding the executive’s store these days. Rove and other first-order appointees have by now left in large numbers, the president is busy tap dancing about the economy (and apparently
as well), and it’s not yet clear that Judge Mukasey has anyone’s attention internally, given the relative silence in response to his announced
to the death penalty for the handful of Guantanamo detainees actually accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks. I hasten to add that my comments here are, in keeping with my worst fears of the blogosphere, without basis in any actual information about any of the relevant internal decision-making. I’d thus gladly defer to Marty, Dawn, Walter, or any of those who’ve engaged DoJ/SG processes first hand. Setting aside our unusual vice president’s office these days, who
should
be engaged in making such calls?
