Congress Getting Too Big For Their Britches

This awkward headline caught my attention:

Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain thought he had a deal when President Bush, faced with a veto-proof margin in Congress, agreed to sign a bill banning the torture of detainees. Not quite. While Bush signed the new law, he also quietly approved another document: a signing statement reserving his right to ignore the law. McCain was furious, and so were other lawmakers.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is opening hearings this week into what has become the White House's favorite tool for overriding Congress in the name of wartime national security.

"It's a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution," the committee's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm interested to hear from the administration just what research they've done to lead them to the conclusion that they can cherry-pick."

Apparently, enough to challenge more than 750 statutes passed by Congress, far more than any other president, Specter's committee says. The White House does not dispute that number, but points out that Bush is far from the nation's first chief executive to issue them.

"Signing statements have long been issued by presidents, dating back to Andrew Jackson all the way through
President Clinton," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday.

Senators Specter and McCain can be vexed all the want, but Senator Cornyn nails this issue on the head:

"There's less here than meets the eye," Cornyn said. "The president is entitled to express his opinion. It's the courts that determine what the law is."

I'll clarify by saying that it is the courts that apply what the law is to a given situation. It is Congress that is supposed to determine what the law is. But regardless, if members of Congress feel that the President is in anyway violating the laws he has signed into power let them challenge him in the courts.

This signing statement business has made headlines before. It should be noted that President Bush is not "exempting" himself from any laws. Rather, he is simply recognizing - officially and in writing - that Congress cannot limit the Chief Executive's power through legislation. They simply cannot. The President has the right, the duty, to uphold the powers of his office. Again, if Congress feels the President is in error, let them challenge him in court.

Of course, Congress isn't doing anything. Instead, they're playing politics. They're calling hearings and filling reporter's ears with righteous indignation. And that should tell us something. This isn't about the President overstepping his bounds, this is about Congress trying to overstep theirs and being ticked off about the fact that the President is having none of it...and that he's right too.