This is disappointing. First the good news: Obama issued an order that all government officials much first check with his attorney general before following any of Bush's signing statements. Alas, the bad news: Obama also declared he might use the signing statement himself. Yeah, he taught constitution law and I'd trust him more than the frat boy who recently left office, but there are better ways. If there are constitutional problems with a bill he is to sign, isn't he supposed to veto it or use his own Justice Department to challenge it? How does one tell the difference between a good signing statement and a bad one? Where in the constitution does it say that a president can modify the law with a signing statement?
One commenter says we shouldn't be so hard on the new guy. Bush wasn't the only one to use signing statements and Obama doesn't (yet) have legal or moral authority to wag his finger at the whole lot of them.
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