Legislator-In-Chief
On July 24, 2006, the American Bar Association's Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine, unanimously issued recommendations 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.
That sounds about right. He must be looking at the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteThat is the general message to us.
ReplyDeleteHe has picked a couple of goons to proceed with.
General Betray-us and
General Fall-on.
or is that Fall-out.?
I wonder what the other Generals will do now.?
What purpose is served by winning Congressional elections?
ReplyDeleteYour Joking right.? Nancy comes from big money , and married big money.
ReplyDeleteShe is a special interest dream come true. She is as corrupt in her influence and philosophy as any Repubs or Dem.
She will now use Bush`s Bronx cheer on us as well.
She was hand picked by the system to continue the same process. She is a stooge like Bush.
She is just another player for the vested interests that control American Politics now.
She in essence now will give us the Finger along with the rest of our ruling establisment , that don`t give a rats ass about North America, but care about special interest money matters.
Based on his new picks for key positions it looks like:
ReplyDelete1. We are going to make an even larger bonfire out of Iraq than we already have.
and...
2. The odds of a military engagement with Iran just went through the roof.
I hope I'm wrong. I would dearly love to be wrong.
Right, Coop!
ReplyDeleteYour point is there's no point in having a Congress assigned to legislating if the freaking president is going to reinterpret what they have written when he signs the bill. Right?
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.
That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.
This flies in the face of Article I of the Constitution, and so Edgar's statement is right on the money, too.
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter introduced the Presidential Signing Statements Act of 2006 on July 26, 2006.
ReplyDeleteThe bill would:
1. Instruct all state and federal courts to ignore presidential signing statements. ("No State or Federal court shall rely on or defer to a presidential signing statement as a source of authority.")
2. Instruct the Supreme Court to allow the U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives to file suit in order to determine the constitutionality of signing statements.
The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Specter chairs, on the day it was introduced.
The permanent subtext of everything Bush does and says:
ReplyDeleteFuck off all of you.
I don't give a shit what you think.
I will do whatever the fuck I want.
Bush is an expert at doing this when he talks ;
ReplyDelete'Pouring from the empty into the void.'
Gary Hart: We Must Ask What Damage The Iraq War Has Done To The US Constitution…
ReplyDeleteDitto M.D. From Calvin Trillin
ReplyDeleteA New Policy for Iraq
The new plan may be bold, we're being told.
It's daring thought the White House now recruits.
Will Feith and Wolfowitz and Perle be asked
For bold ideas? They're bound to have some beauts.
Four Options That the Baker-Hamilton Report Offers to Those Prosecuting the War in Iraq
To think about fading for Hail Mary passes.
To sink this report in rhetorical gasses.
To stop seeing progress through rose-colored glasses
And recognize this as the worst of morasses,
From which we must exit, though slow as molasses.
To simply do something to cover their asses.
Very Nice!
ReplyDelete