A president, not a king

In five and a half years in office, President George W. Bush has lodged more "signing statements" — or challenges to provisions of laws passed by Congress — than all 42 previous presidents combined.

Numbers don't lie. Bush is overusing a tool relied on occasionally throughout history to lay down legal objections in case of subsequent court challenges and to instruct agencies how to execute new laws. The imperial president has a more pernicious approach. He uses signing statements to expand his powers and cherry-pick laws he likes — or doesn't like. The president must be reined in because his actions display a disregard for the Constitution's system of checks and balances.

No president, Republican or Democrat, should be allowed to expand his powers by mere assertion, at the expense of the Congress, the courts and the American public.

A new study by a bipartisan panel of the American Bar Association shows Bush regularly relies on signing statements to get around laws not to his liking. One most notable example was a statement aimed at nullifying a ban on torture passed by Congress.

The arrogant president willfully hamstrings Congress by denying it one of its chief methods of pushing back on his actions: the chance to override a presidential veto.

The precedent matters most, which is why U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, seeks legislation allowing Congress to sue the president over his aggressive use of signing statements.

Specter's efforts, while perhaps unusual for a Republican senator against a president of his own party, are necessary to clarify roles and duties of the various branches of government.

Bush has challenged about 750 statutes, allowing him to revise, interpret or disregard laws, citing national security and constitutional concerns.

Forty-two other presidents combined objected to 600 provisions of new laws.

The study reveals a president bucking reasonable limits on his authority. Court intervention is necessary to set the procedures straight. No president is above the Constitution.