Some thoughts on Executive Authority

It's worth mentioning that Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee) began an inquiry today into President Bush's historically extravagant use of Presidential Signing Statements. Such signing statements are normally used sparingly when a President signs a Bill into law, but may note that a certain provision does not apply to the Executive Branch. Fairly straight forward, however Bush has used this provision more than 1,100 times since he took office, on everything from Exempting the Executive Branch from anti-torture legislation to Exempting the Executive Branch from laws making it illegal to intercept and open other people's mail.

At issue is the separation of powers. Bush has used Signing Statements so often that it now (actually, years ago, it's just that up until Congress had some weird rule about not questioning the President, probably relating to Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, that "Thou shalt not question a fellow Republican") creates a Constitutional Crisis, in which the Executive Branch has effectively undermined the Legislative Branch's sole ability to, well, legislate. Rep. Conyers announced his formal hearings on the same day that President Bush himself was fingered as having ordered the outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame, and consequently destroying her team of anti-nuclear proliferation operatives, in an attempt to discredit Ambassador Joe Wilson and his Iraq War criticism.

These two events today come on the heels earlier this week of President Bush, through Executive Order, declaring that all Federal Regulatory Commissions (the Federal groups that regulate clean air and water, food and drug safety, civil rights, etc) will no longer be headed up by scientists, experts, and civil servants, but by his political appointees. We all remember Michael Brown, who headed FEMA and who's background was in raising show ponies. Bush has said this will allow him to make certain all Federal Regulatory Boards are now guided by his Administrative Beliefs. The same Administrative Beliefs that questioned contractors on their view of Roe v. Wade before offering them jobs in the reconstruction of Iraq.

I highly recommend reading Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann's book, "The Broken Branch," about the faltering of the Legislative in the Executive's decade-long power consolidation. It's a much needed informed debate worth having in this country. It is also, however, worth noting that President Bush isn't the first President to use his office to excess. Three of the Progressive movement's greatest champions, Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, all stymied the other branches of Government in their day. FDR when he walked the line of socialism's safety net during the Depression, and imprisoned Japanese Americans during World War II; Teddy Roosevelt when he took on corporate power and private money against the Robber Barons, and Lincoln when he suspended Habeus Corpus during the Civil War.

The office of the President is so powerful because with the stroke of a pen, one man can change millions of lives. The current upheaval over Executive Authority should begin a debate about the separation of powers on those merits, and not solely as an excuse to further assail Bush. Remember, Congress and the Courts were complicit in facilitating the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and in the Warrentless Wiretapping Program. The Legislative Branch under the GOP gave away it's power to Bush, as the GOP itself believes in a strong Executive and a neutered Legislative and Court. Separation of powers is the start of the debate, one political party controlling all three branches of government, and the excess that breeds, is where it should move next.

--Patrick