Activist Presidents?

[petardier]

I thought the judiciary branch of the government was supposed to interpret the law, but apparently Bush has been issuing documents called signing statements when he signs bill into law. These statements give the president's position on the meaning of the new law.

Guess whose clever idea this was.



If your guess was Samuel Alito, have a cookie.

Just what might the president do via such such a document? Well, he could try to negate the ban on torture that was passed recently. Here's what the Boston Globe has to say about the torture ban's signing document.


When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.

After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a ''signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said.

''The executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President . . . as Commander in Chief," Bush wrote, adding that this approach ''will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President . . . of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."

Some legal specialists said yesterday that the president's signing statement, which was posted on the White House website but had gone unnoticed over the New Year's weekend, raises serious questions about whether he intends to follow the law.


If president Bush finds himself unable to honor his oath of office to defend the constitution, he should step down instead of constructing elaborate justifications for ignoring our country's laws.

Here's more:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/alito-created-signing-statement-bush.html

Here's the whole of the signing statement mentioned above:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051230-8.html

Comments

This just pisses me off..

[(Anonymous)]

Power hungry President Cthulu is at it again, devouring the Constitution and tearing down the separation of powers, all the while swilling obscene amounts of petroleum. I read the "signing statement," aka "I am what I am memo." It amounts to a declaration of a dictatorship, saying that Cthulu is Supreme over the Executive branch, therefore, regarding that branch, you shall make no other laws before me. If a law does not please me, He shall declare it "advisory" or simply subject to His interpretation. MikeM

Re: This just pisses me off..

[leemoyer.livejournal.com]

Or like Swan's contract in Phantom of the Paradise:

"All items excluded are deemed included."