Newswire: ABA: Bush violating Constitution

Bar association president says signing statements erode democracy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's penchant for writing exceptions
to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American
Bar Association task force says in a report highly critical of the
practice.

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."

Some congressional leaders had questioned the practice. The task
force's recommendations, being released Monday in Washington, will
be presented to the 410,000-member group next month at its annual
meeting in Hawaii.

ABA policymakers will decide whether to denounce the statements and
encourage a legal fight over them.

The task force said the statements suggest the president will
decline to enforce some laws. Bush has had more than 800 signing
statement challenges, compared with about 600 signing statements
combined for all other presidents, the group said.

Noel J. Francisco, a former Bush administration attorney who
practices law in Washington, said the president is doing nothing
unusual or inappropriate.

"Presidents have always issued signing statements," he said. "This
administration believes that it should make clear ... when the
Congress is getting close to the lines that our Constitution draws."

Francisco said the administration's input is part of the give and
take between the branches of government. "I think it's good that the
debate is taking place at a public level," he added.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said last month that "it's
important for the president at least to express reservations about
the constitutionality of certain provisions."

The ABA report said President Reagan was the first to use the
statements as a strategic weapon, and that it was encouraged by then-
administration lawyer Samuel Alito -- now the newest Supreme Court
justice.

The task force included former prosecutor Neal Sonnett of Miami;
former FBI Director William Sessions; Patricia Wald, former chief
judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit; former Republican Rep. Mickey Edwards; and former Reagan
administration lawyer Bruce Fein; and law school professors and
other lawyers.