ABA Report On Signing Statements

by tristero

Here’s a link to a PDF of the American Bar Association’s report on Bush’s use of signing statments. Anyone who doubts we are living under an early American form of fascism need only read this little excerpt and ponder how far we have moved from the quaint notion – the way the Geneva Conventions are quaint – that the US is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people:

Among those unanimous recommendations, the Task Force voted to:

– oppose, as contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers, a President’s issuance of signing statements to claim the authority or state the intention to disregard or decline to enforce all or part of a law he has signed, or to interpret such a law in a manner inconsistent with the clear intent of Congress;

– urge the President, if he believes that any provision of a bill pending before Congress would be unconstitutional if enacted, to communicate such concerns to Congress prior to passage;

– urge the President to confine any signing statements to his views regarding the meaning, purpose, and significance of bills, and to use his veto power if he believes that all or part of a bill is unconstitutional;

– urge Congress to enact legislation requiring the President promptly to submit to Congress an official copy of all signing statements, and to report to Congress the reasons and legal basis for any instance in which he claims the authority, or states the intention, to disregard or decline to enforce all or part of a law he has signed, or to interpret such a law in a manner inconsistent with the clear intent of Congress, and to make all such submissions be available in a publicly accessible database.

As late as early January, 2000, the only response one would make to this list was, “No shit, Sherlock, like why waste time telling us the obvious?” ‘Cause until Bush, each of these recommendations would have been utterly unnecessary. Even under Nixon? Even under Nixon. (And speaking of the old scoundrel, be sure to read Jane Mayer’s excellent profile of creepy David Addington, and note the lessons Cheney, et al, took away from Watergate)

As the NY Times notes, in an editorial that is only three months behind Charlie Savage’s famous article in the Globe, Bush has issued more than 800 signing statements, over 200 more than all the previous presidents combined. The Times concludes, with the kind of justifiable cynicism they really should have shown towards Bush’s presidency in 2002 and 2003:

The A.B.A. called Mr. Bush’s use of presidential signing statements “contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers” and recommended that Congress enact legislation clarifying the issue.

We agree on both points, even though we fear that if Congress passes a bill, Mr. Bush will simply issue a new signing statement saying he also does not intend to follow it.

Exactly.