Bush delegated powers of Presidency to Negroponte

* viget in the comments:

"Another possibility is this interesting Presidential memo of May 5 that's the subject of a dKos diary right now. Apparently, Bush delegated the powers of the Presidency to Negroponte to basically protect corporations from shareholder lawsuits if the material has anything to do about national security (note: this delgation is only in regards to the President's power under the SEC act to excuse corporations from lawsuits regarding cooperation with Federal officals on matters of national security, I'm not saying that Negroponte has other Presidential powers).

So the telcos could lie with impunity, and never be called on the carpet about it by a lawsuit."

* Miguel:

"Here's another possibility: the telcos may have been told by the Bush Administration that any lawsuit against them will be stopped by the now famous "State Secrets" privilege, which the Supreme Court has now upheld in 2 recent cases (Sibel's and a CIA agent who sued for discrimination).

Thus, the telcos can lie as much as they want knowing the full truth is likely to never be revealed, absent someone leaking the actual documents/contracts to the press."

* via jiminy cricket, here's the pres directive:

Memorandum of May 5, 2006


               Assignment of Function Relating to Granting of
               Authority for Issuance of Certain Directives

               Memorandum for the Director of National Intelligence

               By virtue of the authority vested in me by the
               Constitution and laws of the United States, including
               section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby
               assign to you the function of the President under
               section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of
               1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A)). In
               performing such function, you should consult the heads
               of departments and agencies, as appropriate.

               You are authorized and directed to publish this
               memorandum in the Federal Register.

                   (Presidential Sig.)B

               THE WHITE HOUSE,

                   Washington, May 5, 2006.

was this rushed through earlier in the month in response to the latest spying thing? I'm surprised they didn't have this duck lined up already...