A commenter at Balkinization posed a good question.

“Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency. “———————————–

1. Can Congress abandon their Constitutional right to oversight of the Executive in this way?

2. Does this statement also mean that even the President cannot question the uses the Secretary of Treasury makes of the $700 billion? I’m not sure I can see how the President could review the expenditures without using an administrative agency of some kind.

While my question 2 seems to be a stretch, I wouldn’t give the authority to override Congressional oversight to someone I trusted a great deal, and nothing the Bush administration has said or done gives me the slightest inclination to trust anyone in it. Even if it were Constitutional to give them the authority which I suspect it is not.

As I understand it, the Constitution does allow Congress to determine jurisdiction of the courts, so that part seems that it may be constitutional. But of course I am no lawyer.