Biden's legacy on his way out the door

Wait, what? We're talking about Joe Biden? Why? He's a "lame duck." No matter who wins the US presidential election on Nov. 5, he's going home to Delaware on Jan. 20. His chances of asking for, and getting, much from Congress during that two-and-a-half-month interregnum are negligible.

- By THOMAS L. KNAPP

But as head of the US government's executive branch, what he can do is follow the laws, no matter how loudly Congress howls, absent Supreme Court intervention in support of criminal behavior.

He won't do it now for fear of harming Kamala Harris' chances versus Donald Trump, but once the votes are in, he's free to follow his conscience...if he still has one after decades in politics, where a conscience is a liability.

The laws I'm speaking of are Section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 USC 2378d), which applies to the Secretary of State, and its Department of Defense analog, 10 USC 362, informally known as the "Leahy Laws."