…fergoshsakes, even a 7th-grader knows the “Office of VP” is -part- of the Executive Branch, & not a “Fourth Branch” of gov’t… despite all of Cheney’s “Man-sized Safes” & his own “More-Secret-than-Top-Secret” designations notwithstanding…
…And thus we have Pundits galore, (hinting): “whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad”
…& saying Cheney is skating right on the razor’s edge of Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”, ie:
Cruise: “Did you authorize that Code-Red?!”
Nicholson: “You’re DAMN RIGHT I did!!”
Basically:
(random Faux Newscaster): “Did you approve of waterboarding (..) Islamic Prisoner?”
Cheney: “You’re DAMN RIGHT I did!!”
…& then it’s all: “Take him away, Baliff.”
…but know what?
That’s all a “West-Wing” wet dream.
Here’s what’s Really Going to Happen:
Cheney ain’t just whistling in the wind:
…but the Ultimate “get-outta-jail card?
=> No matter what happens, Cheney expects to Appeal to the Supreme Court.
…Where he’s got 4 votes in his pocket..
…Aaand a huge war-chest to (acquire) one more….
…& then it’s “Bush vs Gore” all over again… But this time, w/ 2 even more hard-line Right-Wingers to ‘influence’ the swing-votes.
& if Somehow Cheney still comes-up Short?
Obama’ll just pardon him, & Cheney will live life a free man, (aiming) to rehabilitate his image a la Nixon. 
No matter what happens, Cheney sees only upside in all this.
He won’t even have to pull his Bush “Get-out-of-jail-Free” Memo, a la Rove & Miers…
Heck, Cheney probably wrote one of his own, for himself.
“Fourth Branch of Government”, indeed.
RIP, “Rule of Law”…