So why aren't more people up in arms about this?
Remember high school civics class, where we learned that the legislature makes the laws, and the executive enforces them? If the executive doesn't like the law the legislature has passed, he or she must veto the law. Not, apparently, if the executive is named Dubya. Our dear current president believes that by his will alone, he can choose not to enforce certain laws legally passed by the legislature and signed into law by him, if he basically writes a little note that says he doesn't have to. Back when I studied the constitution I didn't see an Amendment called the "I don't want to Amendment" for the President.
I'd like two questions answered. 1) Why aren't more people screaming about this rewriting of the constitution at the whim of one man and 2) why did it take so long for this to be "noticed?"
CNN.com - Dobbs: Why is the president ignoring our laws? - Jul 26, 2006:
NEW YORK (CNN) -- With upraised right hand and left hand on the Bible, each of our presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush, has solemnly sworn to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution of the United States.
The American Bar Association claims President Bush has violated that oath by issuing hundreds of "signing statements" to disregard selected provisions of the laws that Congress passed and he signed.
A bipartisan, 11-member panel of the ABA found that President Bush is not only disregarding laws but using such signing statements far more than any president in history. In fact, Bush has used signing statements to raise constitutional objections to more than 800 provisions in more than 100 laws. All of the presidents combined before 2001 had issued only 600.