Signing Statements

Promises, Promises: President Obama's NDAA Signing Statement

Daphne Eviatar | Posted 03.04.2012

Read More: John McCain, Human Rights, Guantanamo Bay, Signing Statements, Afghanistan, Detention, Ndaa, President Obama, New Year's Eve, Bagram, Congress, Lindsey Graham, President Bush, Indefinite Detention, Executive Power, National Defense Authorization Act, Politics News

Back when he was a candidate, then-Senator Obama criticized President George W. Bush for his frequent reliance on signing statements to circumvent Congressional intent. What a difference executive power makes.

Read Post

The GOP and Presidential Power

Robert J. Spitzer | Posted 03.04.2012

As we begin the countdown to the November elections, let's appreciate how much American governance has become a debate over presidential power -- from health care, to the economy, to foreign policy.

Read Post

Obama Defies Congress On Czars, Gitmo

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael McAuliff | Posted 12.23.2011

Read More: Video, Presidential Signing Statements, Signing Statements, President Barack Obama, President Obama, Guantanamo, 112th Congress, Obama Cabinet. President Obama Czars, President Obama Signing Statement, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- President Obama left town Friday for vacation not only pocketing a victory on the payroll tax, but leaving behind a message of defiance ...

Read Whole Story

President Obama Tells Congress He's Keeping His Czars

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael McAuliff | Posted 06.15.2011

Read More: White House, Signing Statements, Guantanamo Detainees, President Obama, Guantanamo, Elections 2012, Obama Administration, Cars, Health Care Czar, Barack Obama, Guantanamo Bay, Car Czar, Climate Change, Climate Czar, Czars, Video, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama had a message for Congress Friday: his so-called "czars" aren't going anywhere. The budget bill that passed Co...

Read Whole Story

Why Obama Must Embrace the Veto Strategy

Robert J. Spitzer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bill Clinton, Tea Party, Alexander Hamilton, Presidential Signing Statements, Signing Statements, Bush Veto, Death Panels, Presidential Veto, George W. Bush, Health Care Reform, Founding Fathers, James Madison, Congress, Veto, Barack Obama, Politics News

Barack Obama understands that the country wants a president who acts. And as the new, Tea Party-tainted Congress is spoiling for confrontation, now is the ideal moment for a true veto strategy.

Read Post

Obama Faces Balancing Act With Signing Statement

HuffingtonPost.com | Dan Froomkin | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Guantanamo Signing Statement, Presidential Signing Statements, Signing Statements, Barack Obama, Obama Signing Statement, Guantanamo Bay, Barack Obama Guantanamo Bay, Obama Gitmo, Barack Obama Signing Statement, Barack Obama Signing Statements, Politics News

White House officials are drafting a statement for President Barack Obama to issue when he signs the latest military spending bill, rejecting provisio...

Read Whole Story

Shadow Elite: Warrantless Wiretap Case & Obama: Abuse of Executive Power?

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Warrantless Wiretapping, Signing Statements, Recess Appointments, George W. Bush, 9/11, Executive Power, Barack Obama, Executive Branch, Dick Cheney, Politics News

Last week's ruling that the warrantless wiretapping from the post 9-11 era is illegal was not just a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration. It also slammed the current administration.

Read Post

"Bomb Power," or How the Atomic Bomb Ended a War, Increased Presidential Power and Eroded the Constitution

Tom Alderman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Garry Wills, Iran-Contra, Ronald Reagan, Cia, Secret Security State, Stephen Hoye, Iraq, The Manhattan Project, Dick Cheney, Covert Actions, Iran, Guatemala, Gulf of Tonkin, Cuban Missle Crisis, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Vietnam, Korea, Diem, President Kennedy, Atomic Bomb, Bomb Power, The Justice Dept., Patrice Lumumba, Foundind Fathers, Signing Statements, The Atomic Energy Commission, Congress, Edwin Meese, Democracy, The Shah of Iran, David Addington, Iraq War, Nuclear Weapons, Ike, Cambodia, Presidential Power, President Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, World War II, Unitary Executive, Accountability, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Books News

While the bomb ended World War II, it also started a chain reaction that exploded into America's permanent secret security state -- with emphasis on the word 'permanent.'

Read Post

White House Seeking Budgetary Tool Similar To Line-Item Veto

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Signing Statements, Barack Obama, Federal Budget Deficit, Budget, Line Item Veto, Eat the Press, Politics News

Remember how back in 1996, then President Bill Clinton was accorded the line-item veto power by Congress for a brief period of time? Those were a neat...

Read Whole Story

Why Does Obama Use Executive Power for Everything But Gay Troops?

Nathaniel Frank | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Stop-Loss, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gays in the Military, Gay Troops, Gay Rights, Signing Statements, Rahm Emanuel, Executive Order, Barack Obama, Meghan McCain, Politics News

Sometimes moral and political leadership really are one and the same. Ending the needless firing of gay troops is one of those times.

Read Post

House Chairs Push Back Against Obama Signing Statements

HuffingtonPost.com | Jeff Muskus | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama, Signing Statements, House Democrats, Obey Frank, Obey, David Obey, Barney Frank, Transparency, Video, Politics News

House Democrats issued a warning to President Obama on Tuesday: Cool it with the signing statements. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Ser...

Read Whole Story

President Obama's Signing Statements and Congress's Response: A Return to Separation of Powers Sanity?

Peter M. Shane | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Checks and Balances, Obama, Separation of Powers, Bush, Signing Statements, Politics News

The intriguing debate continues on President Obama's use of signing statements to protest provisions of statutes he is signing into law.

Read Post

Well, You Wanted Bipartisanship: House Awakens, Votes 429-2 For Oval Office Accountability

Rob Warmowski | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Goldman Sachs, White House, United States, Signing Statements, Oval Office, Barack Obama, Politics News

Why now? Why did the House allow hundreds of dubious, abusive Bush signing statements in eight years without such an amendment, but can find its courage and love of accountability today?

Read Post

President Obama's Clear Abuse Of Power Cited By...Senator Obama

Rob Warmowski | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: War Spending Bill, Politics News, US Foreign Policy, Iraq, Afghanistan, President Obama, 106b War Spending Bill, 106 Billion Dollars, Signing Statements, Abuse of Power, Executive Power, Executive Branch, Home News

Those who sought legal idealism from the Obama administration won't be getting it, and those who saw a bloated, creeping Executive branch under Bush/Cheney have not, after all, voted in a choirboy.

Read Post

Obama Creates Panel To Find Cause of Financial Crisis

nytimes.com | Kate Phillips | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bailout, Financial Panic, Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis, Obama Administration, Subpoena, Signing Statements, Barack Obama, Business News

President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at curbing financial fraud in the mortgage and other industries, including a provision that crea...

Read Whole Story

The American Myth and Chinese Reality

Eric C. Anderson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: u.s. Foreign Policy, Signing Statements, China, Rule of Law, Beijing-China, Politics News

China's Premier has said that his country's judicial system needs to be reformed in order to assure the judiciary's "dignity, justice and independence." He is seeking rule of law -- not rule by law.

Read Post

LA Times Falsely Claims Clinton Used "Way More" Signing Statements Than Bush

Washington Monthly | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: LA Times, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Signing Statements, Bush Signing Statements, George W. Bush, Andrew Malcolm, Los Angeles Times, Clinton Signing Statements, The Los Angeles Times, Barack Obama, Obama Signing Statements, Politics News

NOT EVEN CLOSE.... The LA Times' Andrew Malcolm played a little fast and loose yesterday, commenting on President Obama's directive on Bush's signing ...

Read Whole Story

Obama: Don't Rely on Bush's Signing Statements

AP/NYT | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Presidential Signing Statements, Signing Statements, Eric Holder, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Politics News

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has ordered a review of his predecessor's signing statements which often told officials how to implement law...

Read Whole Story

Executive Vigor Without Executive Arrogance I: Ending the Reign of Signing Statements

Peter M. Shane | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Checks and Balances, Obama, Separation of Powers, Signing Statements, Executive Power, Barack Obama, Bush, Politics News

With supporters clamoring for the new president to wipe away Bush-era policies with a stroke of a pen, how can the new president wield his own pen without embracing the Bush assault on constitutionalism?

Read Post

Moderate Republicans Unhappy With Party's New Principles

Chuck Lasker | Posted 05.25.2011

The Republican Party is a ghost of its original self. It's no wonder reasonable, tolerant, progressive Republicans are jumping ship, while new recruits to the Party are diminishing.

Read Post

The Constitution is the Issue

John W. Whitehead | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John McCain, Signing Statements, Constitution, Barack Obama, George Bush, Patriot Act, Thomas Paine, 2008 Election, Politics News

In all their stump speeches, little to nothing has been said by either Obama or McCain about repairing the damage done to our constitutional freedoms during the Bush presidency.

Read Post

The End of Politigation

Kevin Morris and Glenn Altschuler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Michigan Primary, James Carville, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Florida Primary, Election 2008, Barack Obama, Karl Rove, Signing Statements, Bush's Brain, Playing the Race Card, Unitary Theory of the Presidency, Politics News

From the rise to power of the "Comeback Kid" until June 12th, the Clintons have played the game as litigators. After all, isn't a campaign a war?

Read Post

McCain Knocks Bush Signing Statements, Says He'll Never Issue One

Washington Post's The Trail | Glenn Kessler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John McCain, McCain 2008, Presidential Signing Statements, Signing Statements, Bush Signing Statements, John McCain Signing Statements, Politics News

Sen. John McCain criticized President Bush today for his practice of issuing signing statements that suggest the president will ignore elements of the...

Read Whole Story

Bush Issues Signing Statement Waiving Ban On Permanent Military Bases Iraq

Think Progress | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Warwire, Signing Statements, Permanent Military Bases Iraq, Iraq War, Bush Signing Statements, Military Bases Iraq, War in Iraq, George Bush, President Bush, Iraq, War on Terror, Politics News

President Bush yesterday signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act after initially rejecting Congress's first version because it would have ...

Read Whole Story

Bush Issues First Signing Statement Since 2006 On Military Appropriations Bill

Boston Globe | Charlie Savage | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: George Bush Signing Statements, President Bush Signing Statements, Executive Signing Statements, Signing Statements, President Bush, Politics News

President Bush this month issued his first signing statement since the Democratic takeover of Congress, reserving the right to bypass 11 provisions in...

Read Whole Story