King George and the Law

The DOJ is a part of the Executive branch and can be ordered about by George W. He asserts that "the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege," according to the WaPo . This is rather sticky for Congress, the law states that a House or Senate statutory contempt citation must be submitted to the DC US Attorney "whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action."

"A senior official, who said his remarks reflect a consensus within the administration. "And a U.S. attorney wouldn't be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen."
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, added: "It has long been understood that, in circumstances like these, the constitutional prerogatives of the president would make it a futile and purely political act for Congress to refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys."

So apparently being President means Congress can just go take a hike and is what you might call - inconsequential. Fit for doing the bidding of the Supreme Executive, and you may have noticed that they will do just that rather than be accused of being soft on terror - so they'll be soft on spying. So, the Supremes are very nearly a BushCo creation, Congress is his yapping lap dog, and what's left? I suppose it's the ballot box or the Second Amendment, it's a pretty sad state of affairs when there is actually reason to wonder which is most utilitarian.