[Vision2020] American Bar: Bush Violating Constitution

[Ted Moffett]

  ABA: Bush violating Constitution Bar association president says signing
statements erode democracy

 *WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's penchant for writing exceptions to
laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American Bar
Association task force says in a report highly critical of the practice.*

The ABA group, which includes a one-time FBI director and former federal
appeals court judge, said the president has overstepped his authority in
attaching challenges to hundreds of new laws.

The attachments, known as bill-signing statements, say Bush reserves a right
to revise, interpret or disregard measures on national security and
constitutional grounds.

"This report raises serious concerns crucial to the survival of our
democracy," said the ABA's president, Michael Greco. "If left unchecked, the
president's practice does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine,
and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for
more than two centuries."

Some congressional leaders had questioned the practice. The task force's
recommendations, being released Monday in Washington, will be presented to
the 410,000-member group next month at its annual meeting in Hawaii.

ABA policymakers will decide whether to denounce the statements and
encourage a legal fight over them.

The task force said the statements suggest the president will decline to
enforce some laws. Bush has had more than 800 signing statement challenges,
compared with about 600 signing statements combined for all other
presidents, the group said.

Noel J. Francisco, a former Bush administration attorney who practices law
in Washington, said the president is doing nothing unusual or inappropriate.

"Presidents have always issued signing statements," he said. "This
administration believes that it should make clear ... when the Congress is
getting close to the lines that our Constitution draws."

Francisco said the administration's input is part of the give and take
between the branches of government. "I think it's good that the debate is
taking place at a public level," he added.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said last month that "it's important
for the president at least to express reservations about the
constitutionality of certain provisions."

The ABA report said President Reagan was the first to use the statements as
a strategic weapon, and that it was encouraged by then-administration lawyer
Samuel Alito -- now the newest Supreme Court justice.
The task force included former prosecutor Neal Sonnett of Miami; former FBI
Director William Sessions; Patricia Wald, former chief judge of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; former Republican
Rep. Mickey Edwards; and former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein; and
law school professors and other lawyers.
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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