“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887
While many people have differences of opinion over the policies of the Obama Administration, so long as the Executive Branch acts within the limited scope of its authority as granted under Article II and Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution; the latter reading, in part:
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated [a Veto] … If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law …”
the President is the nation’s CEO and ultimately in charge of the federal bureaucracy.
When bills are passed by both houses of Congress and sent to the President, he/she can sign them or veto them. There is no Constitutional authority granted to the President to sign such legislation accompanied by “signing statements”; in which they indicate intent to ignore or only partially implement such legislation. Critics rightfully argue that the proper Presidential action if any aspects of a bill are constitutionally questionable or to his disliking is either to veto the legislation or to “faithfully execute” the laws (Constitution, Article II, section 3).
While signing statements date back to the presidency of James Monroe, early statements include discussions about presidential doubt about legislation and the issue of how the president should proceed are found from Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Ulysses Grant. And, up until the Clinton Administration, were used sparingly, mostly for non-consequential matters.
While it is clear there is no Constitutional authority relating to signing statements, the issue of Executive Orders is a bit murkier.
Executive Orders have been used by every president since the time of George Washington (some 13,000 have been issued since 1862). Such authority is implied under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution which grants to the President the “executive Power” and pursuant to Section 3 of Article II which further directs the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” … in other words to implement or execute the laws of the land, Presidents give direction and guidance to Executive Branch agencies and departments, often in the form of Executive Orders.
Executive Orders are, however, controversial because they allow the President to make major decisions, even law, without the consent of Congress. This, of course, runs against the general logic and language of the Constitution … that no one should have power to act unilaterally.
President Obama’s recent pronouncements that he is unilaterally suspending the “employer mandate” and/or other aspects of the Affordable Care Act he signed into law clearly runs contrary to his Constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the Laws of the United States … as Presidents are not empowered to change or fail to enforce the laws to meet political, personal or even practical considerations!
Regretfully, Congress has often given the President considerable leeway in implementing and administering federal law and programs; particularly where foreign policy and national defense are concerned.
Sometimes, when Congress cannot agree exactly how to implement a law or program it abdicates its responsibilities allowing such decisions to be made by the federal agencies involved. When Congress fails to spell out in detail how a law is to be executed, it leaves the door open for the President to provide those details in the form of Executive Orders.
An even more tragic abdication of Congressional authority is its acquiescence of its authorized power under Article I Section 8 “To Declare War”. Not since December 8, 1941 has Congress exercised that power … yet nearly 100,000 service men and women have lost their lives, another 400,000 have been wounded and trillions of dollars spent in the prosecution of wars from Korea to Afghanistan.
One wonders where our Congressional statesmen and women are … those willing to stand up and petition for immediate legal intervention to regain for Congress its Constitution mandated prerogatives and limit the extra-Constitutional power of the President and Executive Branch.
Meantime, perhaps the President should take time and reread 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.”
