Common Cause strongly supports the creation of a Commission of Inquiry to publicly and thoroughly investigate all allegations of unconstitutional and illegal abuses of power by our government. We believe that such a Commission should not be limited in its inquiry to any one area of illegal or unconstitutional conduct, such as policies adopted to fight terrorism. The conduct to be investigated, no matter how heinous, is symptomatic of a larger problem, a grave crisis in our constitutional system that goes to the very core of our values and respect for the rule of law. It is essential that there be a thorough fact-finding investigation into the full range of alleged violations of human rights and abuses of power by the prior Administration in both domestic and foreign activities, as well as Congress’ failure to contain such conduct. We believe that such a broad inquiry is required in order to restore the nation’s understanding of and reverence for the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, a free and open society, human rights, and our American system of checks and balances. Common Cause will work in both the U.S. House and Senate to create this commission. The full text of our statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2009 is here. |
