Posted on 07/24/2006 5:00:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A powerful Republican committee chairman who has led the fight against President Bush's signing statements said Monday he would have a bill ready by the end of the week allowing Congress to sue him in federal court.
"We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on the Senate floor.
Specter's announcement came the same day that an American Bar Association task force concluded that by attaching conditions to legislation, the president has sidestepped his constitutional duty to either sign a bill, veto it, or take no action.
Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, reserving the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.
"That non-veto hamstrings Congress because Congress cannot respond to a signing statement," said ABA president Michael Greco. The practice, he added "is harming the separation of powers."
Bush has challenged about 750 statutes passed by Congress, according to numbers compiled by Specter's committee. The ABA estimated Bush has issued signing statements on more than 800 statutes, more than all other presidents combined.
Signing statements have been used by presidents, typically for such purposes as instructing agencies how to execute new laws.
But many of Bush's signing statements serve notice that he believes parts of bills he is signing are unconstitutional or might violate national security.
Still, the White House said signing statements are not intended to allow the administration to ignore the law.
"A great many of those signing statements may have little statements about questions about constitutionality," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "It never says, 'We're not going to enact the law.'"
Specter's announcement intensifies his challenge of the administration's use of executive power on a number of policy matters. Of particular interest to him are two signing statements challenging the provisions of the USA Patriot Act renewal, which he wrote, and legislation banning the use of torture on detainees.
Bush is not without congressional allies on the matter. Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, a former judge, has said that signing statements are nothing more than expressions of presidential opinion that carry no legal weight because federal courts are unlikely to consider them when deciding cases that challenge the same laws.
No, thank YOU for that great link!
Would love to hear what you two have to say about this.
I think that's his intent, the backstabbing creep!
Arlen Specter is totally ungrateful for the assistance and support provided to him by Bush in 2004, and this is not the first example of that lack of civility toward the Bush White House.
Time for Bush and Rove to dig up some dirt on Arlen.
Spector is such a slimeball.
I think that the SPecial Executive Council for Terrorism Revenge Extortion is doing just fine in congress as it is. Except it's called the "Democratic Party" now.
Bush will simply veto Spinchter's bill.
RINOs benefit more from Democrat vote fraud than even the Democrats themselves.
Does PA have a law that allows a politician to be recalled?
Personally, I wish he would veto half the nonsense that crosses his desk from Congress.
I wonder if the knob researched this via Scottish law?
This clown is a disgrace to Highlanders everywhere...
RINOs are just as complicit. Definition of a RINO: A "Republican" whose political enemies and opponents are to the right of him.
Careful, there...
Being a liberal won't get you zotted, per se. FReepers are sometimes tolerant of liberals.
Even being a fool won't get you zotted, per se. FReepers sometimes suffer fools, albeit not gladly.
But being a foolish liberal smart-ass might just require a call to the Viking Kitties. You're in Jim-Rob's living room as a guest. Show respect, even if you disagree mightily.
Arlen is such a tool! The main who came up with the "magic bullet theory" to explain how one bullet could hit and enter two men in the same car in Dallas 1963. Can this guy just go away!!
I dislike Spectre more than the next person but this is not a bad thing IMO. "Signing statements" by any President are an affront to the Constitution.
Not sure. If they do, they should use it.
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