From Think Progress

ADMINISTRATION -- AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION CONDEMNS BUSH'S USE OF SIGNING STATEMENTS:

The nation's premier legal group has denounced President Bush's use of signing statements as "contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers." To date, Bush has objected to more than 800 provisions of legislation in "signing statements," which allow the President to claim "the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed ." By contrast, all other presidents combined have had just 600 signing statements. In response, a bipartisan 11-member panel of the American Bar Association (ABA) released a report yesterday condemning this practice as an effective line-item veto which "improperly deprive[s] Congress of the opportunity to override the veto ." The report called for an end to the practice and for more congressional oversight in the event that a signing statement is issued. However, the strongest rebuke came from ABA president Michael S. Greco: "If left unchecked, the president's practice does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine, and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for more than two centuries." Many congressional leaders have also come out against Bush's use of signing statements; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) called the practice "a challenge to the plain language of the Constitution ."