President Bush has issued over 108 signing statements, which mostly remain unreported until early 2006, when the President issued a statement in conjunction with his signing of a torture statute, pushed through by Senator John McCain. After signing the statute, which was crafted in order to make illegal approved torture by the executive branch, President Bush wrote the following statement:
"The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act,
relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the Constitutional
authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch
and as Commander-in-Chief and consistent with the Constitutional
limitations on the judicial power which will assist in achieving the
shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title
X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."
Bruce Fein explained before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
"If
all other avenues have proved unavailing, Congress should contemplate
impeachment for signing statements that systematically flout the
separation of powers and legislative prerogatives. The epitome of an
impeachable offense, as Alexander Hamilton amplified in the Federalist
Papers, is a political crime against the Constitution."
Statement on Signing the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005
