Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power

[Wordie]

Alito Once Made Case For Presidential Power

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 2, 2006; Page A11

As a young Justice Department lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. tried to help tip the balance of power between Congress and the White House a little more in favor of the executive branch.

In a Feb. 5, 1986, draft memo, Alito, then deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, outlined a strategy for changing that. It laid out a case for having the president routinely issue statements about the meaning of statutes when he signs them into law.

Such "interpretive signing statements" would be a significant departure from run-of-the-mill bill signing pronouncements, which are "often little more than a press release," Alito wrote. The idea was to flag constitutional concerns and get courts to pay as much attention to the president's take on a law as to "legislative intent."

It was Alito himself that suggested the development of the signing statement into a tool to increase presidential powers!

"Since the president's approval is just as important as that of the House or Senate, it seems to follow that the president's understanding of the bill should be just as important as that of Congress," Alito wrote. "...by forcing some rethinking by courts, scholars, and litigants, it may help to curb some of the prevalent abuses of legislative history,"he stated at a later time.

Bush has been adding these statements with little notice of the public.
These signing statements are very unpopular with members of Congress, as they usurp legislative powers.

"The novelty of the procedure and the potential increase of presidential power are two factors that may account for this anticipated reaction," (Alito) wrote. "In addition, and perhaps most important, Congress is likely to resent the fact that the president will get in the last word on questions of interpretation."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/01/AR2006010100788.html

In fact, many legal scholars consider the use of signing statements to be closely akin to use of the line item veto, which the Supreme Court has declared to be unconstitutional. Yet our SC nominee, Alito, was the one who came up with the idea!!!

[redqueen]

1. And the other potential nominees are worse than this guy?

HOW is that possible?

[Wordie]

3. Couldn't there be a way of pressuring Bush, thru the use of public opinion

to nominate someone more mainstream? With the fall elections so close, and the Bush nosedive in the polls, not to mention the Abramoff scandals and the fact that Iraq really is a quagmire becoming increasingly obvious, Bush doesn't have his imaginary "mandate" to cling to. Alito is clearly a judge that will be likely to increase Presidential power at the expense of the country - couldn't the Dems get a lot of mileage mileage out of that? Especially with all the spy stuff going on???

Is there any precedent for Presidents having been forced to name a more acceptable and moderate candidate?

[texastoast]

2. Did you hear Lawrence Tribe this morning?

He kicked ass regarding Alito's comments on presidential power and the way Roe will be eventually overturned. "Very troubling," Tribe said.