President George W. Bush [has] shown disdain and indifference for the US constitution by adopting an astonishingly broad" view of presidential powers, a leading libertarian think-tank said. The critique from the Cato Institute reflects growing criticism by conservatives. "The pattern that emerges is one of a ceaseless push for power, unchecked by either the courts or Congress," the report...concludes. That view was echoed last week by former congressman Bob Barr, a Republican, who called on Congress to exercise "leadership by putting the constitution above party politics and insisting on the facts" in the debate over illegal domestic wiretapping. Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the judiciary committee, noted: "Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress." [Bush has] also cracked down on dissenters, with non-violent protesters being harassed by secret service agents whenever Mr Bush appears in public. The more serious charges concern Mr Bush's actions in the "war on terror". Citing a 1977 interview with President Richard Nixon, who said, "Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal", the report argues that the administration's...arguments for untrammelled executive power "comes perilously close to that view".

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