Linus without his Blanket

I only gave Marty Lederman's piece over at Balkinization a summary glance but from what I gather Judge Bate's ruling on the Miers/Bolton case goes much further than the simple rejection of absolute immunity for anyone who closely worked with the President. Aside from that, Judge Bate's ruling rejected the administration's claim that the House held no oversight power on the executive process and that any claim of executive privilage will necessarily have to include direct communications with the president. In other words, unless Miers or Bolton were acting on order from or communicating directly with President Bush their claims of executive immunity to any questions are likely to fail. The ruling on executive privilage itself is rather astonishing as well as Judge Bates ruled unequivocally that executive prilivage is not an absolute and is not a blanket for everyone in the administration. Personally, I have the feeling that this issue will continue even after President Bush leaves office.