Trajan
conscientia mille testes
froom hot air, hot off the press...
I have to say, of all the Bush policies recycled by Obama, this ones my favorite just because its such a gratuitous offense to his base. You can spin many of the others on expediency grounds he had to ramp up the drone strikes in Pakistan to crack down on terrorists, he had to keep Gitmo military tribunals going because the Republicans tied his hands but this ones pretty much a pure no-apologies betrayal. The bad news: Legally, its highly dubious. The good news: It should provoke another classic what-happened-to-the-Barack-I-knew Andrew Sullivan lament.
One rider Section 2262 de-funds certain White House adviser positions or czars. The president in his signing statement declares that he will not abide by it.
The President has well-established authority to supervise and oversee the executive branch, and to obtain advice in furtherance of this supervisory authority, he wrote. The President also has the prerogative to obtain advice that will assist him in carrying out his constitutional responsibilities, and do so not only from executive branch officials and employees outside the White House, but also from advisers within it. Legislative efforts that significantly impede the Presidents ability to exercise his supervisory and coordinating authorities or to obtain the views of the appropriate senior advisers violate the separation of powers by undermining the Presidents ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
In other words: we know what you wanted that provision to do, but we dont think its constitutional, so we will interpret it differently than the way you meant it.
Remember, one of the big advantages of using czars is that they perform cabinet-type functions without being subjected to cabinet-type confirmation hearings. Which means, in this case, not only is he reserving his right to skirt congressional scrutiny of important appointees, hes reserving his right to force Congress to pay for it by ignoring their own funding strictures. Hes been using signing statements for a long time now, but Im not sure theres ever been an example this egregious.
President Obama Issues
Wow: Obama issues “signing statement” rejecting budget cuts to White House “czars” « Hot Air
I have to say, of all the Bush policies recycled by Obama, this ones my favorite just because its such a gratuitous offense to his base. You can spin many of the others on expediency grounds he had to ramp up the drone strikes in Pakistan to crack down on terrorists, he had to keep Gitmo military tribunals going because the Republicans tied his hands but this ones pretty much a pure no-apologies betrayal. The bad news: Legally, its highly dubious. The good news: It should provoke another classic what-happened-to-the-Barack-I-knew Andrew Sullivan lament.
One rider Section 2262 de-funds certain White House adviser positions or czars. The president in his signing statement declares that he will not abide by it.
The President has well-established authority to supervise and oversee the executive branch, and to obtain advice in furtherance of this supervisory authority, he wrote. The President also has the prerogative to obtain advice that will assist him in carrying out his constitutional responsibilities, and do so not only from executive branch officials and employees outside the White House, but also from advisers within it. Legislative efforts that significantly impede the Presidents ability to exercise his supervisory and coordinating authorities or to obtain the views of the appropriate senior advisers violate the separation of powers by undermining the Presidents ability to exercise his constitutional responsibilities and take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
In other words: we know what you wanted that provision to do, but we dont think its constitutional, so we will interpret it differently than the way you meant it.
Remember, one of the big advantages of using czars is that they perform cabinet-type functions without being subjected to cabinet-type confirmation hearings. Which means, in this case, not only is he reserving his right to skirt congressional scrutiny of important appointees, hes reserving his right to force Congress to pay for it by ignoring their own funding strictures. Hes been using signing statements for a long time now, but Im not sure theres ever been an example this egregious.
President Obama Issues
Wow: Obama issues “signing statement” rejecting budget cuts to White House “czars” « Hot Air
