JOSHUA BOLTEN

The Supreme Court had decided to hear an important case on gun rights. Cheney had discovered that Solicitor General, the Administration’s chief lawyer before the Supreme Court, Paul Clement planned to file a brief that was very different from Cheney’s own personal views. In protest, he signed his name to a much stronger brief filed by 55 pro-gun senators and 250 members of the House of Representatives. The President’s Chief of Staff called Cheney on the carpet for doing something that was unforgivable—the Vice President had publicly criticized the position that the President’s (and the Vice President’s) chief lawyer was taking. See Cheney’s excuse {633773} . Bolton let the vice president know that if he ever tried something like this again, he would be frozen out of most government activities. In Bush’s second term Cheney had less and less influence, in part because of his unethical behavior like this.

The Supreme Court had decided to hear an important case on gun rights. Cheney had discovered that Solicitor General, the Administration’s chief lawyer before the Supreme Court, Paul Clement planned to file a brief that was very different from Cheney’s own personal views. In protest, he signed his name to a much stronger brief filed by 55 pro-gun senators and 250 members of the House of Representatives. The President’s Chief of Staff called Cheney on the carpet for doing something that was unforgivable—the Vice President had publicly criticized the position that the President’s (and the Vice President’s) chief lawyer was taking. See Cheney’s excuse {633773} . Bolton let the vice president know that if he ever tried something like this again, he would be frozen out of most government activities. In Bush’s second term Cheney had less and less influence, in part because of his unethical behavior like this.