By one count, the White House has praised the judgment of the American Bar Association 43 times in recent years, frequently reminding reporters and the public that the ABA’s ratings are the professional “gold standard.”
With this in mind, it’s worth noting that the ABA created a task force to review the president’s proclivity for “signing statements” — and recommended strong action.
In a report to be released Monday, the task force will recommend that Congress pass legislation providing for some sort of judicial review of the signing statements. Some task force members want to simply give Congress the right to sue over the signing statements; other task force members will not characterize what sort of judicial review might ultimately emerge.
To mount a legal case, a person or group must have been granted “standing,” or the right to file a lawsuit. Current law does not grant members of Congress such a right, and recent Supreme Court decisions have denied it in all but very exceptional cases. But Congress could consider bypassing that hurdle by writing a law to give its members the right to sue, a resolution in the task force’s report declares, a source familiar with the task force report told U.S. News.
Good. Arlen Specter has said he’s “seriously considering” filing legislation to give Congress legal standing to sue Bush over his use of signing statements, and the ABA’s recommendation might help push the effort along (and perhaps encourage Specter before his inevitable backpedaling).
At a minimum, if the Dems take back the Senate in November, I suspect a showdown over these signing statements is inevitable.