Does Bush's use of signing statements have anything to do with Congress' lack of impact?
[b"Though they've been used by American presidents for about 200 years, signing statements—edicts issued by the president to declare his intent to construe a provision within a law differently than Congress does—are constitutionally questionable. But George W. Bush's use of them far exceeds his predecessors', and he has consistently used them to flout the will of the legislative branch."[/b]
Yes - welcome to Answerpool, Charles. Sorry, I should have said it earlier.
There seems to be some problem with the figures:
'Still, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton used the presidential veto instead of the signing statement if they had a serious problem with a bill, giving Congress a chance to override their decisions.
But the current President Bush has abandoned the veto entirely, as well as any semblance of the political caution that Alito counseled back in 1986. In just five years, Bush has challenged more than 750 new laws, by far a record for any president, while becoming the first president since Thomas Jefferson to stay so long in office without issuing a veto.'www.boston.com
Has Bush used more "signing statements" or less than his predecessors did, or has he used to them to challenge more laws or less, or has he used them differently - for example, to flatly contradict laws rather than give an opinion on ambiguities?
Where in the US constitution is this power to be found ? The links refer to judicial rulings but give the impression that this power is one which is what we, in Britain, would call 'a constitutional convention', that is something which has taken on the character of a constitutional law but which is nowhere to be found explicitly stated in terms (common enough in Britain, seeing as we don't have a written constitution as such )
The key to the numbers thing is maybe the nature and scope of the signing statements:
'By Cooper's count, George W. Bush issued 23 signing statements in 2001; 34 statements in 2002, raising 168 constitutional objections; 27 statements in 2003, raising 142 constitutional challenges, and 23 statements in 2004, raising 175 constitutional criticisms. In total, during his first term Bush raised a remarkable 505 constitutional challenges to various provisions of legislation that became law...
...Generally, Bush's signing statements tend to be brief and very broad, and they seldom cite the authority on which the president is relying for his reading of the law. None has yet been tested in court. But they do appear to be bulking up the powers of the presidency. Here are a few examples...'writ.news.findlaw.com
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