Or maybe not. At least, not always. Sometimes, the rule of law still means something. Even in the time of Bush. Here’s the latest legal smackdown suffered by the clowns who are even more legendary than the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

The Bush administration overreached when it sought to limit the Navy’s obligations under national environmental laws related to sonar training exercises off California, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

In a sharply worded decision that will keep the Navy from continuing a series of 14 planned exercises, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote that the Navy and the administration had improperly declared that an emergency would be created if they had to accept court-mandated steps to minimize risk to whales and other sea mammals. Because no real emergency exists, she said, the White House cannot override her decisions and those of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Accepting the Navy’s arguments, she wrote, would produce “the absurd result of permitting http://www.1115.org/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=5704
1115.org › Edit — WordPressagencies to avoid their [environmental] obligations by re-characterizing ordinary, planned activities as ‘emergencies’ in the interest of national security, economic stability or other long-term goals.”

Since we’ve been there before, you can imagine the official White House reaction for yourself:

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, “We disagree with the judge’s decision. We believe the orders are legal and appropriate.”

Yes, as usual, it’s: “Them damn judges, they don’t know damn sh*t about the damn law!” This time Tony Fratto drew the short straw, but any White House spokesperson can do this in their sleep by now. Not that I mean to suggest Dana Perino is sleeping on the job, mind you.

You can also imagine the reaction of those on the other side, the enemies of the state, as it were:

Joel Reynolds, an official at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which obtained an earlier injunction against the Navy blocking the exercises, said in a statement that the court “has affirmed that we do not live under an imperial presidency.”

When you start to delve into the details, the words “imperial presidency” ring more and more true.

Early last month, President Bush signed a waiver exempting the Navy from provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act after Cooper and the appeals court had concluded that the law required the Navy to do more to protect marine mammals during the sonar exercises. The loud blasts produced during sonar exercises have been shown to disorient some types of whales, leading in some circumstances to strandings and deaths.

At the same time Bush signed his order, the White House Council on Environmental Quality determined that the Navy did not need to follow the procedures of the National Environmental Policy Act when doing so would cause an emergency situation. The Navy has long argued that it urgently needs to train more sonar operators because of new threats from “quiet” diesel submarines that can approach ships or the U.S. coast without being detected by traditional passive sonar.

While Cooper’s ruling dealt primarily with the legality of the Navy’s “alternative arrangement” under NEPA, she also raised the possibility that the administration’s actions were unconstitutional in general because they implied that White House agencies could routinely overrule federal court decisions. She did not, however, rule on those grounds.

“The Navy’s current ‘emergency’ is simply a creature of its own making, i.e., its failure to prepare adequate environmental documents in a timely fashion,” she wrote.

Imagine that! Just because Bush hath decreed it, that doesn’t make it true? Or legally binding? Oh, man! What a novel legal doctrine! If this gets around…

And then the notion that the White House may not be empowered to routinely overrule the courts? Wow-zie!

I saved the best part for last, though (as did the Washington Post):

The Navy appealed, and then after losing the appeal won White House support for overriding the court’s earlier decision.

In case you are at all confused about the sequence of events, here’s a concise summary (yes, the WP doesn’t always write as clearly as I do; having carefully considered the matter, I am prepared to accept gainful employment from the WP):
— the Navy wants to conduct sonar exercises off the coast of California
— the Natural Resources Defense Council obtains an injunction against the Navy, thereby blocking the exercises
— the Bush regime, like any law-abiding government might do, stamps its foot and appeals this decision
— they lose the appeal
— the Bush regime, showing how little they care about even resembling a law-abiding government, stamps its foot and goes: “You know what, to hell with this legal bullsh*t! We’ll just ignore the decisions of the District Court and the Court of Appeals. And this is how we’ll do it: we’ll pull the old fake emergency stunt.”
— the District Court, which apparently cares about the U.S. resembling a state characterized by the rule of law, calls a foul

So now we can all stand by for the inevitable Bush regime response. Even with all my spies, and my flies-on-the-wall, I am unable to report what that will be. However, one thing I can tell you. It will involve the stamping of feet.