ABA TELLS PRESIDENT TO VETO LAWS OR FOLLOW THEM

ROBERT PEAR, NY TIMES - The American Bar Association said Sunday that
President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of
law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that
he signed. In a comprehensive report, a bipartisan 11-member panel of
the bar association said Mr. Bush had used such "signing statements" far
more than his predecessors, raising constitutional objections to more
than 800 provisions in more than 100 laws on the ground that they
infringed on his prerogatives. These broad assertions of presidential
power amount to a "line-item veto" and improperly deprive Congress of
the opportunity to override the veto, the panel said. In signing a
statutory ban on torture and other national security laws, Mr. Bush
reserved the right to disregard them.

The bar association panel said the use of signing statements in this way
was "contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of
separation of powers." From the dawn of the Republic, it said,
presidents have generally understood that, in the words of George
Washington, a president "must approve all the parts of a bill, or reject
it in toto."

If the president deems a bill unconstitutional, he can veto it, the
panel said, but "signing statements should not be a substitute for a
presidential veto."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/washington/24prexy.html?_r=1&oref=login