3/9 Undoing Bush: Even the President has to Obey the Law

2009: President Obama asserted today that he will not use signing statements to ignore laws passed by Congress because of policy disagreements.  Obama vowed to restore the decades-old use of signing statements, which is to identify those parts of passed laws that the president believes have constitutional problems. 

President Bush had taken signing statements to a new level, issuing more of them than all other presidents combined, angering both Democrats and Republicans.  The nation’s largest legal association,  the ABA, also strongly objected to Bush’s abuse of signing statements.

To read examples of President Bush abusing signing statements, click here.