How many branches of government does the US have?

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This is how USA for Kids views the U.S. Government.
It is not how our vice president views it.

"Three" is the answer we learned in school. But Dick Cheney apparently thinks otherwise:
Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman.

In pointed letters released today by Waxman, ISOO's Leonard twice questioned Cheney's office on its assertion it was exempt from the rules. He received no reply, but the vice president later tried to get rid of Leonard's office entirely, according to Waxman.

Emphasis added. HT: Sullivan. The Vice-presidency not being part of the executive branch? Does that mean he's immune to impeachment, too?

Comments

grishnash said…
My guess would be that he's arguing that the Vice-President's constitutional role as the President of the Senate makes him part of the Legislative branch. That would be a kind of silly argument, seeing as the office of Vice-President is, except for the single reference to the Senate in Article I, defined in Article II which defines the Executive branch. Either that or he's just making it up as he goes along.
8:50 AM, June 22, 2007
Sphires said…
You forgot the FED
2:17 PM, December 21, 2009
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