What happens when lawyers who haven't been specifically hired to find ways for Bush to do whatever he pleases and trounce all over laws he's just signed? Well, they're in pretty much complete agreement, George Bush is flagrantly violating the Constitution and the law of the land without any legal grounds to do so.
Wired News has the article. Here's the second through fourth paragraphs that effectively frame the concerns raised by his selective legal interpretations, emphasis mine.
The ABA group, which includes a one-time FBI director and former federal appeals court judge, said the president has overstepped his authority in attaching challenges to hundreds of new laws.
The attachments, known as bill-signing statements, say Bush reserves a right to revise, interpret or disregard measures on national security and constitutional grounds.
"This report raises serious concerns crucial to the survival of our democracy," said the ABA's president, Michael Greco. "If left unchecked, the president's practice does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine, and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for more than two centuries."
Read that slowly or allow me to translate, Bush is signing laws that he claims do not necessarily apply to him if he chooses not to. Bush is claiming that the President of the US is above the law of the land when the reality is that he is supposed to be the role model for the law, he's supposed to be the Knight in Shining Armor of the Constitution. The president is not above the law, he cannot be.
Tags: Bush, Constitution, have we met?, democracy
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