The Political Chase

BREAKING: Specter Submits Bill to Rein In Bush Signing Statements

Ranking Judiciary Committee Member Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) seeks to muzzle the dog that keeps biting his hand. Specter reintroduced legislation (subscription required) today that will clamp down on George Bush acting as the Judiciary Branch of the U.S. government. Bush has attached hundreds, if not thousands, of signing statements to legislation passed by Congress, specifying how the laws are to be interpreted and enforced.

“The president cannot use a signing statement to rewrite the words of a statute nor can he use a signing statement to selectively nullify those provisions he does not like,” Specter said in a floor statement.

“The Constitution grants the president a specific, narrowly defined role in enacting legislation. … The Constitution provides that when a bill is presented to the president, he may either sign it or veto it with his objections. He may also choose to do nothing, thus rendering a so-called pocket veto. The president, however, cannot veto part of a bill, he cannot veto certain provisions he does not like.”

According to Specter, the bill would take two significant steps to end Bush’s use of signing statements. First, it would prevent the president from “issuing a signing statement that alters the meaning of a statute by instructing federal and state courts not to rely on presidential signing statements in interpreting a statute.”

Additionally, it would give Congress significant new standing in any court case involving an interpretation of federal law laid out in an existing signing statement. Under the law, Congress would have the ability to file an amicus brief and present oral arguments on how the law should be read, and would instruct courts that “if Congress passes a joint resolution declaring its view of the correct interpretation of the statute, the court must admit that resolution into the case record.”

It’s Dubya’s job to enforce the laws and we can see how well that’s going. Contrary to King George’s rules, the Supreme Court interprets the law. Ah hell, George can’t even read the damn things, how does he think he can interpret them?