Obama Orders Reviews Of Past Presidential Signing Statements
Obama, in a two-page memorandum he issued yesterday, also preserved the right to rely on the so-called signing statements to make similar challenges.
“In a way, hes saying, Yes, were not going to accept this body of presidential law by the previous presidents,” said Phillip Cooper, a professor at Portland State University who has studied signing statements. “But hes serving notice that he may make use of the presidential signing statement as a device.”
Obamas memorandum instructed federal agencies to ask the attorney generals office for guidance before relying on a past signing statement as a reason to disregard a statutes provision. He said there can be “no doubt that the practice of issuing such statements can be abused,” words that signaled his latest break from Bushs approach to executive authority.
Obama said he would attach signing statements to legislation “only when it is appropriate to do so as a means of discharging my constitutional responsibilities.” He also laid out a set of principles that will govern his use of signing statements.
Signing statements should “not be used to suggest that the president will disregard statutory requirements on the basis of policy disagreements,” Obama said in the memorandum.
“He is at least saying whats hes not going to do,” said Cooper.
Maneuvering Room
Cooper also said that the memorandum “seems to reflect some fairly specific problems that were around in the Bush years,” and that Obama is “still leaving himself some room to maneuver.”
While the memorandum made no reference to a specific administration, Bush drew criticism for his use of signing statements from Democrats and some Republicans. These critics, among them Republican Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and John McCain of Arizona, Obamas rival in last years presidential campaign, charged that Bush used the statements to bypass provisions of legislation with which he disagreed.
A 2006 report by the American Bar Association said Bush made unprecedented use of signing statements. In December 2007, for example, he attached a signing statement to the National Defense Authorization Act disputing a provision that barred funding for permanent bases in Iraq.
Bushs Strategy
The former presidents larger strategy was to assert the prerogatives of the executive branch at the expense of Congress, Turley said.
“Singing statements were always the visible and perhaps the most hostile acts toward Congress by the Bush administration,” said Turley. Obamas memorandum is a “part of repairing that damage,” he said.
The Justice Department will advise agencies whether ignoring portions of a law passed by Congress “is based on well-founded constitutional objections and reflects a legitimate interpretation of the statute in question,” spokesman Matthew Miller said in an e-mail.
Constitutional Problems
Obama, in his approach to signing statements, will “go back to what has been previously done, and that is to enumerate constitutional problems” that are flagged by either the Justice Department or the White House legislative counsels office, the presidents press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said yesterday.
The Bush administration issued “hundreds and hundreds” of statements saying that “people disregard portions of the legislation or the intent of Congress,” Gibbs told reporters at his daily briefing.
Obamas memorandum was released after Obama had changed course yesterday from another Bush policy. Obama signed an executive order earlier yesterday lifting limits his predecessor had imposed on federal funding of research using human embryonic stem cells.
Add A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.