Bush administration vs. the U.S. Constitution

"He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation." --Declaration of Independence, the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, July 4, 1776.

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George W. Bush on the Constitution

• "You need to have a president who understands you can't win this war with legal papers. We've got to use every asset at our disposal." --May 13, 2003, ABC News' Nightline.

• "GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions" of the Patriot Act "could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

"'I don’t give a goddamn,' Bush retorted. 'I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.'

"'Mr. President,' one aide in the meeting said. 'There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.'

"'Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,' Bush screamed back. 'It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!'" --Reported in Capitol Hill Blue, December 9, 2005.

Legislation

• House Joint Resolution (H. J. Res. 24), 109th Congress: "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution," February 17, 2005. Introduced by Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (R-MD); Co-Sponsors (4): Reps. Howard L. Berman, Howard L. (CA), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ), Martin Olav Sabo (MN), and F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (WI). Status: April 4, 2005, referred to House Subcommittee on the Constitution. Repeal would remove the two-term limit on the Presidency.
• Senate Bill 520, 109th Congress, 1st Session: "To limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts in certain cases and promote federalism," March 3, 2005. Introduced by Sen. Richard C. Shelby (AL); Co-Sponsors (8): Sens. Wayne Allard (CO), Sam Brownback (KS), Jim Bunning (KY), Conrad Burns (MT), Richard Burr (MT), Larry E. Craig (ID), James M. Inhofe (OK), and Trent Lott (MS). Status: March 3, 2005, referred to Senate committee; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; related to H. Res. 1070, 109th Congress: "To limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts in certain cases and promote federalism," March 3, 2005. Introduced by Rep. Robert B. Aderholt (AL); Co-Sponsors (44). Status: April 4, 2005, referred to House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

House Committee on the Judiciary Report

On January 13, 2009, the House Committee on the Judiciary, led by Chairman John Conyers, Jr. released a 486-page report detailing alleged abuses and excesses of the George W. Bush administration and recommending steps to address them.

The report asks many legal and Constitutional questions concerning the actions by the George W. Bush administration's

• Politicization of the Department of Justice
• Detention, Enhanced Interrogation, Ghosting and Black Sites
• Extraordinary Rendition
• Warrantless Domestic Surveillance, and National Security and Exigent Letters
• Presidential Signing Statements
• The Leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s Covert CIA Identity
• Executive Privilege, Secrecy, and the Manipulation of Intelligence

The report makes many recommendations. These include the following.

• Closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay
• All persons arrested in the United States be subject to civilian law enforcement procedures with due process guarantees
• An end to torture and abuse by enforcing current laws
• End the CIA program of secret detention and abusive interrogation
• End extraordinary rendition of terror suspects
• End abuse of presidential signing statements
• Restoring the full protection of the attorney-client privilege
• Congress should restore the independence of the press while maintaining public safety
• Congress should pass legislation holding defense contractors responsible for their criminal misconduct
• Congress should pass legislation to strengthen legal protection for whistleblowers
• Congress should pass legislation that would strengthen contempt powers

Articles & Commentary

2000

• Raju Chebium, "Bush tells U.S. Supreme Court: Manual recounts violate U.S. Constitution," CNN, November 23, 2000.
• "Florida Supreme Court Violated Constitution, Bush Team Says," UPI (NewsMax), December 1, 2000.

2001

• Alan M. Dershowitz, "Bush Starts Off by Defying the Constitution," Los Angeles Times, 2001. Posted by positiveatheism.org.
• "Bush Urges High Ethical Standards," NewsMax, January 23, 2001.
• "Bush’s Faith-Based Funding Violates Constitution," Feminist Daily News Wire, January 26, 2001.
• Nat Hentoff, "Abandoning the Constitution to Military Tribunals. President Bush is abandoning more and more of the fundamental rights and liberties that he assured us he was fighting to preserve," Village Voice, November 21-27, 2001.
• "Liberty vs. Security: An NPR Special Report. Ashcroft Faces Scrutiny for Steps Taken Since Sept. 11," NPR, December 1, 2001.

2002

• Chuck Baldwin, "Bush Administration Signals End to Open Government," Restoring America, March 22, 2002.
• Christine Hall, "Does Bush's Anti-crime Program Violate Constitution?" Cybercast News Service (NewsMax), June 1, 2002.
• Dahlia Lithwick, "Hiding the Dirty Bomber From the U.S. Constitution. The Bush administration establishes a Department of Precrime," Slate, June 11, 2002.
• Charles Lane, "Has Bush infringed the constitution? The debate heats up," Washington Post, September 3, 2002.
• Jennifer Loven, "Bush Says Constitution Won't Be Violated in War on Terrorism," Associated Press (Free Republic), September 10, 2002.
• "Bush vows to uphold Constitution," The Columbian, September 11, 2002.
• Al Lorentz, "Homeland Security, UN-Constitutional, Illegal and Dangerous," Constitution Party of Texas, November 15, 2002.

2003

• Nat Hentoff, "George W. Bush's Constitution," Village Voice (TruthOut), January 3, 2003.
• Doug Bandow, "Recasting the Constitution. Republicans are strict constructionists only when it suits them," The American Conservative, January 13, 2003.
• "Bush's Two Views of the Constitution," Talk Left, January 17, 2003.
• David Baumann, "Cash Clash," GovExec.com, July 15, 2003.
• "Bush Administration v. The Constitution. A Civil Liberties Scorecard, September 2002," ACLU North Carolina.
• Gina Holland, "Did Bush administration violate constitution?" The Age, September 3, 2003.
• Editorial: "Bush: What Constitution?" The Cincinnati Post, November 19, 2003.
• Colleen K. Connell, "Disregarding rights for national security," Chicago Tribune, December 3, 2003. American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
• Elaine Cassel, "The Courts Awaken. Bush, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld Rebuked for Trampling the Constitution," Counter Punch, December 9, 2003.

2004

• News Release: President Calls for Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage, Remarks by the President, White House, The Roosevelt Room, February 24, 2004.
• David Stout, "Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage," New York Times, February 24, 2004.
• William Saletan, "Confidence Man. The case for Bush is the case against him," Slate, March 4, 2004.
• Marianne Means, Commentary: "Bush loves to tinker with Constitution," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 11, 2004.
• Opinion: "War doesn't mean Bush can ignore Constitution," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 6, 2004.
• David Sirota, "Primer: Why Bush Secretly Moving $700 Million Violates The Law," SirotaBlog, April 20, 2004.
• "The Bush Administration Vs. The Constitution," People for the American Way, April 23, 2004: "PFAW Foundation Releases New Report on Detentions. Right-Wing Groups Join People For the American Way Foundation in Padilla Case." Also see report PFAW Report: "Undermining the Bill of Rights: The Bush Administration Detention Policy," April 22, 2004.
• "Bush Shredding Constitution," Democrats & Liberals, April 30, 2004.
• Ellen Ratner, "Trust Us," WorldNetDaily, May 17, 2004.
• Jack Balkin, "The Election and the Constitution," Balkinization, June 11, 2004.
• Molly Ivins, "The day the Constitution died. June 8, 2004: Ashcroft's coronation of George W. Bush," Working for Change (Veterans for Common Sense), June 12, 2004.
• Nat Hentoff, "Declarations of Independence. Since the reign of King George III, resistance has been our legacy—and to this day still is," Village Voice, June 14, 2004.
• Gregory P. Margarian, "Above the law: president Bush & the Constitution," Commonweal (FindArticles), June 18, 2004.
• Ernest Miller, "The Constitution of the United States (as interpreted by President George W. Bush)," Corante, June 22, 2004. (Increase pdf file to 300% for viewing.)
• Editorial: "Administration unbound. While trying to spread democracy around the world, the Bush administration undermines it at home with policies that ignore constitutional restraints," St. Petersburg Times, October 2, 2004.
• Timothy Noah, "Why Bush Opposes Dred Scott. It's code for Roe v. Wade," Slate, October 11, 2004.
• Ivy Meagan Smith, "Byrd Calls Bush Administration 'Dangerous' in New Book," Kansas City infoZine, October 11, 2004.
• Ramsey Clark, "Bush can run, but he cannot hide from the Constitution," Information Clearing House, November 9, 2004.

2005

• Marc Krug, "Bush's Latest Assault on the Constitution," Counterbias, January 10, 2005.
• "The Bush Administration's 'Enabling Act'," The New American, January 25, 2005.
• Jeffrey Feldman, "In Order to Form a More Sacred Union," Frameshop, February 3, 2005. references State of the Union 2005.
• W. David Kubiak, "Introducing The Constitution Restoration Act. Say Hello To Taliban America And Goodbye To Godless Judges, Courts And Law," ZMag, April 3, 2005.
• Osha Gray Davidson, "Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet. With a vote of hand-picked lobbyists, the president could terminate any federal agency he dislikes," Rolling Stone (Common Dreams), April 23, 2005.
• "Did President Bush Violate the U.S. Constitution in Designating His Private Property in Texas the Seat of the Executive Branch of U.S. Government?" The Nashua Advocate, April 25, 2005.
• "Reid: Bush, GOP Seek to Reinvent Reality. Harry Reid Says President Bush, GOP Senators Are Using Filibuster Fight to Rewrite Constitution," ABC News, May 19, 2005.
• Jesse J. Holland, "Reid accuses Bush of trying to 'rewrite the constitution'," Associated Press (Billings Gazette), May 19, 2005.
• John Nichols, "Bush Vs. History," The Nation (CBS News), August 29, 2005.
• Chuck Baldwin, "Bush Administration Pushing Domestic Surveillance Envelope," Prison Planet, October 29, 2005.
• Doug Thompson, "Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'," Capitol Hill Blue, December 9, 2005.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Bush administration and torture
• Bush administration fetish for government secrecy
• Bush administration lies that led to war
• Bush Administration Plan for Flu Outbreaks
• Bush doctrine
• Bush lies and deceptions
• Bush regime
• civil liberties
• enemy combatant
• establishing martial law in the United States
• Faith-based and Community Initiatives
• George W. Bush's domestic spying

• George W. Bush's bank records spying
• George W. Bush's phone records spying

• global detention system
• Hurricane Katrina: Police State Occupation of New Orleans
• Legal Arguments for Avoiding the Jurisdiction of the Geneva Conventions
• National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
• National Security Surveillance Act of 2006
• nuclear option
• Patriot Act I
• Patriot Act II
• Patriot Act abuses
• preemptive war
• President's Military Order of November 13, 2001, Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism
• Posse Comitatus Act
• Congresspedia page on presidential signing statements and the legislative attempts to rein them in.
• rendition
• Shadow Government
• The Bush Theocracy
• The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush
• The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War, and Illegal Domestic Surveillance
• The Imperial Presidency
• treating dissent as treason
• U.S. election irregularities
• United States as a rogue nation