By
Kenneth J. Theisen, 6/19/07
A recent government report confirms what
regular readers of this site already know: the president considers himself
above the law and unaccountable to the other branches of government. In a
report released on June 18, 2007, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
found that in the Presidential signing statements it studied, the Bush
Administration failed to execute the law as instructed in at least 30 percent of
the cases. The report had been requested
by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. and Senate
Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd.
President Bush has used signing statements more than all the previous
presidents together. These statements put forth the president’s view of the
laws he signs, and in Bush’s case, usually re-interprets the laws or outright
declares that he will not follow some of the provisions of the laws.
GAO researchers examined signing
statements in 11 of 12 appropriations acts in fiscal year 2006 and looked at a
sampling of 19 provisions with which Bush had expressed concern in his signing
statements. In six of the nineteen cases, the President objected to and federal
agencies under his authority failed to execute the laws.
According to Conyers, “The
Administration is thumbing its nose at the law. This study calls for an
extensive review of these practices, something the Administration has so far
refused to do.”
Senator Byrd called Bush’s actions a
power grab, “The White House cannot pick and choose which laws it follows
and which it ignores. When a president signs a bill into law, the president
signs the entire bill. The Administration cannot be in the business of cherry
picking the laws it likes and the laws it doesn’t. This GAO opinion underscores
the fact that the Bush White House is constantly grabbing for more power,
seeking to drive the people’s branch of government to the sidelines. Too often,
the Bush Administration does what it wants, no matter the law. It says what it
wants, no matter the facts. We must continue to demand accountability and
openness from this White House to counter this power grab.”
In April 2007 the Congressional Research
Service (CRS) issued a report which found that Bush issued 149 signing statements,
127 (85%) of which raised some objection. Many of these statements are typified
by multiple objections, resulting in over 700 challenges to distinct provisions
of law by the Bush regime.
Both the GAO and the CRS reports indicate
that the Bush regime acts in a dictatorial manner. Despite what Senator Byrd stated, the
president routinely cherry picks the law.
In fact in many cases, Bush just creates his own law or rather does what
he wishes regardless of the law. If the Constitution’s 4th amendment
forbids his regime from conducting massive surveillance programs, he orders the
NSA to do so anyway. If international
treaties ban torture, he has his compliant lawyers issue a memo calling these
treaties “quaint.” If the law says
minimal due process must be followed for prisoners of war, he designates them
as “unlawful enemy combatants” and detains them in secret prisons or in hell
holes outside the U.S.
to avoid any semblance of fairness.
This Bush administration will be in
office until January 2009. Imagine all
the laws it can violate between now and then.
Imagine a government not constrained by any laws, including laws that
forbid aggressive illegal wars. It
should be easy, as that is the government that we now have. If you are having a hard time imagining what
this will mean to the people of the world, then what will you do to halt this
regime?