American Bar Association President Michael Greco says their report shows Bush’s use of signing statements is undermining the constitution.
Ya think?
That’s great but will anything come of it? No mention of what if anything they plan to do about it other than document it. The pen may be mightier than the sword but in Bush’s case the pen and the sword together are killing our democracy.
Here are excerpts from Michael Greco's interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy now:
A new report (PDF) by the American Bar Association criticizes the president’s unprecedented use of what’s known as signing statements through which he claims a right to ignore or not enforce sections of bills that he signs into law.
The report declares: "The Constitution is not what the President says it is.”
One thing should be pointed out. If the President believes that a law that Congress has enacted is unconstitutional or he has other problems with it, the Constitution provides him with an avenue: he can veto that bill. No one expects the President to enforce a law that he is uncomfortable with. But instead of vetoing these bills and sending it back to Congress so that Congress can deal with the President's concerns and either modify that bill to address those concerns or override the veto by a two-thirds vote, what the President is doing is denying Congress that power, given to it in the Constitution.
That's what we mean when we're talking about destroying the system of checks and balances, because recent presidents -- and it isn't just President Bush -- recent presidents have been taking, seizing more and more power from the other two branches to create a more powerful executive branch. The founders of this country separated those powers, precisely so that we would not have a monarch or a king or an all-powerful executive branch. That's how serious this issue is.
These series of issues that you just mentioned are issues of great concern, not only to the ABA, but to all of us in this country. We want security. We want our nation to be secured. We want the President and the administration to protect us, but not at the expense of giving up our constitutional freedoms, because if we do that voluntarily, then we are doing the work of the terrorists that are trying to destroy our democracy. We would be doing it to ourselves, and that would be the ultimate harm inflicted on ourselves.
The sweet sound of logic.
Monica Lewinsky where are you when your country needs you most?
Read the entire interview at:
Democracynow.org
