Difference between revisions of "Unitary Executive Theory"

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"Cheney has tried to increase executive power with a series of bold actions -- some so audacious that even [[conservative]]s on the [[Supreme Court]] sympathetic to Cheney's view have rejected them as overreaching," Milbank wrote.
 
"Cheney has tried to increase executive power with a series of bold actions -- some so audacious that even [[conservative]]s on the [[Supreme Court]] sympathetic to Cheney's view have rejected them as overreaching," Milbank wrote.
  
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===Bush Documents===
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==Bush Documents==
 
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/11/20021104-3.html News Release: "President Signs Justice Approps Authorization Act,"] Statement by the President, November 4, 2002: "The executive branch shall construe section 530D of title 28, and related provisions in section 202 of the Act, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authorities of the President to supervise the '''unitary executive branch''' and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."
 
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/11/20021104-3.html News Release: "President Signs Justice Approps Authorization Act,"] Statement by the President, November 4, 2002: "The executive branch shall construe section 530D of title 28, and related provisions in section 202 of the Act, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authorities of the President to supervise the '''unitary executive branch''' and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."
 
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060309-8.html News Release: "President's Statement on H.R. 199, the 'USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005',"] March 9, 2006: "The executive branch shall construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch, such as sections 106A and 119, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the '''unitary executive branch''' and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."
 
*[http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060309-8.html News Release: "President's Statement on H.R. 199, the 'USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005',"] March 9, 2006: "The executive branch shall construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch, such as sections 106A and 119, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the '''unitary executive branch''' and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."

Revision as of 12:28, 3 August 2006

  • "It's not too far from King of Everything, really."—Jan Frel, AlterNet, October 28, 2005. [2]

The unitary executive theory "asserts that all executive authority must be in the President’s hands, without exception." [3]

President George W. Bush "has been asserting from the outset of his presidency" that presidential power "must be unilateral, and unchecked," Jennifer Van Bergen wrote January 9, 2006, in FindLaw's Writ.

"But the most recent and blatant presidential intrusions on the law and Constitution supply the verse to that refrain. They not only claim unilateral executive power, but also supply the train of the President's thinking, the texture of his motivations, and the root of his intentions.

"They make clear, for instance, that the phrase 'unitary executive' is a code word for a doctrine that favors nearly unlimited executive power. Bush has used the doctrine in his signing statements to quietly expand presidential authority," Van Bergen wrote.

According to "Dr. Christopher Kelley, a professor in the Department of Political Sciences at Miami University, as of April 2005, President Bush had used the doctrine 95 times when signing legislation into law, issuing an executive order, or responding to a congressional resolution," Van Bergen wrote September 23, 2005.

"The President announced in these signings that he would construe provisions in a manner consistent with his 'constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch.' While the President clearly has the authority to supervise the executive branch, it is unclear how far he might construe this authority under the unitary executive theory," Van Bergen wrote.

Cheney & Addington

Jan Frel wrote in the October 28, 2005, AlterNet Blog that Bush had, however, used this "unitary logic, including [in] many of his ill-fated choices relating to torture and the Geneva Conventions."

"And who was the author of the infamous 'torture memo?'," Frel asked? It was David S. Addington, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney since October 2005 and Cheney's counsel since 2001, who "believes in the Unitary Executive theory. If you guessed that this meant the power of one CEO who decides liberty and justice for all, you wouldn't be far off," Frel wrote.

Addington was the "vice president's point man," Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank wrote October 11, 2004.

"Cheney has tried to increase executive power with a series of bold actions -- some so audacious that even conservatives on the Supreme Court sympathetic to Cheney's view have rejected them as overreaching," Milbank wrote.

Bush Documents

  • News Release: "President Signs Justice Approps Authorization Act," Statement by the President, November 4, 2002: "The executive branch shall construe section 530D of title 28, and related provisions in section 202 of the Act, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authorities of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."
  • News Release: "President's Statement on H.R. 199, the 'USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005'," March 9, 2006: "The executive branch shall construe the provisions of H.R. 3199 that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch, such as sections 106A and 119, in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information the disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties."

Signing Statements

"Presidential Signing Statements: Similar to the line-item veto is the presidential signing statement, in which the President signs a bill but also specifies which parts of a bill he or she actually intends to enforce. [4]

  • "Until the Reagan administration, only 75 signing statements had ever been issued."
  • Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton "issued a total of 247 signing statements."
  • "President George W. Bush alone has issued 130 signing statements, which tend to be more sweeping in scope than those of his predecessors."

Publications

Arthur M. Schlesinger, "The Imperial Presidency," Houghton Mifflin, 1973 ISBN 0395177138. [5]

Related SourceWatch Resources

External Links

Profiles & Reports

2004

2005

2006

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