As I noted in this post, Samuel Alito proposed some fairly radical views when working for the Reagan administration regarding the effect of the President issuing a “signing statement” when he signs a bill into law. Among them, he hypothesized that a law might be void to the extent there was a conflict between the President’s understanding and that of Congress. I also noted the curious coincidence of Alito’s previously-unknown views becoming public and the almost-simultaneous release of a lengthy presidential signing statement along with the McCain anti-torture bill.
Now, the Boston Globe reports, it turns out that the Bush administration is quite serious about being able to disregard the new law when it wants to:
Yow. “Waive the law’s restrictions”?? The assertion of presidential prerogatives here is really breathtaking. We now have an unnamed “senior administration official” saying that the President, in his sole discretion, can choose to disregard a federal law, the sole purpose of which is to take that discretion away from him.
And the decline of constitutional democracy marches on …
