…Lately, beginning with Reagan and continuing under George W. Bush’s view of the “unitary executive,” the Signing Statement has become more controversial than ever before, and rightly so. President Bush has redefined the authority inherent in the office of the executive and granted himself the powers of a “Dux Maximus,” a maximum leader. Much of this new power has come through the abuse of the Presidential Signing Statement…
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While the newsmakers and newshounds have been aggressively chewing on the Bush administration, a generally overlooked but very newsworthy item is Bush’s daily expansion of presidential power, often in the form of Presidential Signing Statements. The president is using the signing statement as a line item veto in flagrant violation of Article I of the Constitution, creating his own species of legislative history in the process, and announcing his intention to ignore the very bill he is signing into law.
Presidential Signing Statements are not new at all. In 1993, the U.S. Dept. of Justice published “The Legal Significance of Presidential Signing Statements,” wherein the Clinton Justice Department reported that Presidents Jackson and Tyler used them. So did Wilson, Eisenhower, Lincoln, et al. Andrew Jackson in fact, in 1830 signed a bill and simultaneously sent to Congress a message that restricted the reach of the statute. Andrew Johnson signed but protested against an Army appropriations bill, claiming that one of its sections “in certain cases virtually deprives the President of his constitutional functions as Commander in Chief of the Army.” Generally, the signing statement’s function is to explain to the public the president’s view on the law, and its likely effect once the law is adopted. Another uncontroversial purpose has been to guide and direct executive officials in interpreting and administering the statute.
Lately, beginning with Reagan and continuing under George W. Bush’s view of the “unitary executive,” the Signing Statement has become more controversial than ever before, and rightly so. President Bush has redefined the authority inherent in the office of the executive and granted himself the powers of a “Dux Maximus,” a maximum leader. Much of this new power has come through the abuse of the Presidential Signing Statement.
While Article II of the Constitution envisions that the president will have an important role in sculpting the language of law, Article I limits the president’s choices to accepting the bill as presented and signing it into law, or a veto where “…he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated.” George Bush hasn’t vetoed a bill in six years, but has put a great deal of effort into arguing that it really doesn’t matter as long as he pushes the words “war on terror” or “national security” onto the paper.
Newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito announced his position long ago on the authority to be granted to Signing Statements, and it looks a lot like George Bush’s. That may explain why Alito was the president’s choice, the Myers debacle notwithstanding. In 1986 while deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, Altio wrote, “Since the president’s approval is just as important as that of the House or Senate, it seems to follow that the president’s understanding of the bill should be just as important as that of Congress.” Alito’s plan is totally unworkable, as the president is the chief law enforcement officer, and not a unitary law maker.
If Alito’s rational were taken to its natural conclusion, then your police chief would start drafting local law, and adding language which pardoned him from its effects. Bush’s Signing Statements aren’t just clarifiying the White House’s thoughts on the statute or instructing executive agencies. Bush’s calculated and systematic scheme is signing away all congressional restraints on his immeasureable want of power and nullifying congress and the courts as coequal branches of government. You know, like a king.
Written by Jesse Toler, (Send Him Email) who writes a column at www.populistamerica.com