

The executive branch ignores the law. That's the unvarnished way of summing up the results of a new study by Congress's nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which took a look at 19 legal provisions formally challenged by the Bush administration but signed into law as elements of larger bills. In six cases, federal agencies disobeyed the law, the GAO revealed.

President Bush has made it a practice to formally protest sections of bills that he signs into law through the use of "signing statements," orders that invoke presidential authority in implementing a statute. In a mega-exertion of executive power, Bush has challenged over 1,100 sections of various bills, more than all presidential administrations combined. Some of the more noted provisions that Bush didn't like are:

A federal ban on torture.

A request for more information about the use of the USA

Patriot Act.

A requirement that authorities obtain judicial warrants to open U.S. mail.

The GAO didn't look at the more controversial signing statements the president has used. Instead, one example from the study involved a Congressional directive that U.S. Customs and Border Protection move its Tuscon checkpoints every week in an attempt to stop illegal immigration. But the agency interpreted the law differently. Almost like it wasn't a law. CBP merely shut down its checkpoints for periods of time, rather than move them. Vacation, anyone?

Here's more from the Boston Globe which has a good story on the matter:

"Of the other five laws that the study found were disobeyed, two provisions required agencies to get permission from a congressional committee before taking certain actions. In both cases, the agencies notified the committee but acted without their permission – just as

Bush's signing statements instructed them. The other three provisions involved the executive branch giving information to congressional oversight committees, including plans for emergency housing following a disaster; budget documents related to certain military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; and a proposal to fix a problem related to funding for military medical services. In all three cases, the administration did not obey the laws as written."

The Washington Post has more info here.