Signing Statements

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I had wanted to view the Arlen Spector led judiciary committee hearing regarding this president's copious use of signing statements. Did I miss it or was it just not aired on C-Sapn or C-Span 3? I guess I was thinking that this particular hearing would be of paramount interest and, even if it did not give us a glimpse inside the administration's thinking regarding the signing of legislation and the lack of any presidential vetos, it would at least force a discussion that would, perhaps, shed SOME light on the constitutional issues.

I will admit to complete ignorance...how could legislation be signed into law and then revised by caveat, at whim, by the chief exectutive officer? I don't see any allusion to such powers in the Constitution and I cannot recall any major Supreme Court decision that affirmed the executive power to dismiss the exigencies of signed law.

How and where did this power come to be? Oh yes...I have been made aware that other presidents have made signing statements but I have seen none that give a president the express power to dismiss or ignore established law.

This all goes to the debate over the extent of executive power and may perhaps be the most important issue facing the United States at this time. It flies in the face, in my estimation, of all constitutional theory as espoused by Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson. It belies the established separation of powers. It negates congressional and judicial jurisdiction and oversight powers. Unlimited executive power IS the reason the United States exists in the first place!! It represents the reaction and overthrow of tyranny and despotism!

So...what have I missed? Where have I, according to Bush, Cheyney, et al, been led astray? What is the rationale that will make their theory palatable? Alas...I fear that its justification lies in an executive/corporate liason that intends to fatten the rich at the expense of the poor, to further polarize the classes, to give unlimited power to the "ruling elite".

I fear our founding fathers (even thought they, themselves, represented an aristocracy) would be screaming, from their graves,

BEWARE!!

trickster108