The Globe reports that three important GOP Senators are crying foul over President Bush’s signing statement on the McCain torture bill that said, basically, “I will abide by this law except when I won’t.” Not surprisingly, John McCain (R-Ariz.) was one of them, and John Warner (R-Va.), the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also spoke out against Bush’s statement.
Most interesting in light of next week’s hearings on Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination is the statement of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Graham told the Globe: “I do not believe that any political figure in the country has the ability to set aside any … law of armed conflict that we have adopted or treaties that we have ratified.” That’s not what Sam Alito thinks – at least, that’s not what he thought in 1986.
So let us hope that Sen. Graham is aware of Alito’s views on presidential signing statements, which appear to be a lot closer to Bush’s than to Graham’s. And let us hope that Graham questions Alito closely on that subject, instead of giving him the tongue-bath (BMG’s word of the day, apparently) that Republican Senators customarily reserve for Republican nominees.
