executive order...

[justicefire]

I'm upset about Obama agreeing executive order in the stupac ammendment. I dont believe in the executive order or 'signing statement' at all. The president does not get to make legislation or interpret legislation... we have two other branches of government for that. This bothered me when Bush Jr. did it and it bothers me now. I also have a real

Comments

Note..

[tricstmr]

.. the executive order reaffirmed that the federal government will keep doing exactly the same thing as it has been doing before.

that is all.

Executive orders have existed for a really long time--they were part and parcel of getting shit done during WW2, for example, and they can easily be overwritten by legislation...

Basically--they are not the same as a "signing statement" at all. An executive order is something that tells some part of the executive branch to do something--and that is all. It doesn't change the law of the land so much as it is a rule for those working in the Executive Branch. You cannot issue an executive order that says "All Americans must go to this Church!"--because they are not part of the executive branch..

A signing statement, on the other hand, is all about changing the intent of actual Laws passed by the legislative branch--and that is a major fucking breach of the separation of powers.

In any case--the best analysis that I've seen shows that the whole "executive order" thing was basically a face-saving measure to help Stupak--who'd gone too far and was quickly going to become "the Democratic representative who killed health care reform" to justify his decision to vote for the bill--so Obama publicizes that "Yes, just for Rep. Stupak, I'll write an Executive Order that says that we will keep doing exactly what we've been doing.. isn't that cool!"

That's all...

Re: Note..

[justicefire]

I still sort of find the idea of president's editing law to be distasteful. I understand the statement in its context now but still dont like the broader concept.
Drew