Separation of Powers the Associated

Separation of Powers

The Associated Press. "AG Says Lafayette Supervisor Cannot Keep Oxford Police Job." Action

News. 2008. WorldNow and WMCTV. 6 March 2008 http://www.wmctv.com/global/story.asp?s=7968146.

Lafayette County Supervisor Ray Sockwell Jr., who was a captain in the police department prior to becoming a county supervisor, was not permitted to continue to work for the Oxford Police Department, once he became county supervisor.

The Mississippi Attorney General's Office determined that it would be a violation of the separation of powers for Sockwell to hold both positions at the same time. Furthermore, it was not only Sockwell's position as captain that presented a problem, according to "the attorney general's opinion, Sockwell cannot be a police officer at all while holding the job as supervisor." (Associated Press).

This brief article was interesting, because it discussed the separation of powers in a very practical context. The separation of powers generally refers to three distinct branches of government: legislative, judicial, and executive. The executive branch is nominally in charge of law enforcement; therefore, as a police officer, Sockwell was a member of the executive branch. As a county supervisor, Sockwell would have been serving in a legislative position. The result is that, at least in Missouri, it is clear that the separation of powers means that the two branches cannot have any meaningful overlap, including shared employees.

Weiner, Bernard. "Better Buckle Up! CheneyBush's Final 10 Months!" Scoop Independent

News. 2008. Scoop News Media. 6 March 2008 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0803/S00078.htm.

This article discusses how the Bush-Cheney administration has rendered the separation of powers doctrine ineffective. The House voted to hold two members of the Bush Administration in contempt of Congress, because they failed to appear and respond to a House Judiciary Committees subpoena. "They were informed by the committee that they could assert a claim of 'executive privilege' as a justification for not answering questions and not providing the documents, but they had to do that by appearing and making that claim in front of the committee. They were not simply free to ignore a lawful subpoena to appear. In short, nobody was above the law." (Weiner). However, even though they were cited with contempt, Congress could not enforce those citations because the Attorney General refused to refer the citations to a grand jury.

The most remarkable aspect about this article is that it gives one example of how a corrupt presidential administration can abrogate the protections guaranteed in the constitution, to prevent over-concentrating power in one governmental branch.

Babington, Charles. "Stem Cell Bill Gets Bush's First Veto." WashingtonPost.com. 2006. The Washington Post Company. 6 March 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071900524.html.