WASHINGTON -- When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
This presidency is the first time I've ever heard the idea that signing statements have the force of law, in fact that they have more force than the law being signed. I always thought they were just kind of a political speech in writing, a press release saying how nice it was that the law had been passed and how we should all thank the president for his support of it.
Of course this is red meat to those who hate America, not to mention the fact that it creates more and more such people. I don't hate America, and in fact what disturbs me about Bush is how his actions create more and more hatred of America. Pro-Union slave owners in the American Civil War denounced secessionists as "practical abolitionists" because they actually promoted abolitionism (against their intentions, of course) by seceding from the Union. Bush seems to be the most practical anti-American alive.
What I would like to know is whether his oath of office,
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
is modified by some kind of signing statement that gives him the right to ignore all or part of the Constitution of the United States.
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