The Boston Globe reported April 30 the President Bush has been playing fast and loose with the law.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.
The term 'high crimes and misdemeanors' comes to mind, doesn't it? What's surprising about the story is how unsurprising the actions are. This is a dictatorial presidency.
And you might ask where the so-called 'strict constructionists' have been. Show me where it says that the president decides which laws are constitutional or not - I thought the courts did that.
As always, the people who scream the loudest about the re-interpretation of the constitution are hypocritically silent about Bush's repeated re-interpretation of the constitution.
--Wisco
