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We all remember the outrage in the press over the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that President Bush, Vice President Chaney and Karl Rove went to Capitol Hill to personally lobby for and get passed through Congress before they adjourned for the campaign season.
In the end, the Senate passed the bill, S-3930, on September 28, 2006. Much to the dismay and objections of the American people these Senators were sworn to serve. Not surprisingly, every Republican in the Senate, save Sen. Snowe (R-ME) voted yea on the bill. Disturbingly, Democratic Senators Carper (D-DE), Johnson (D-SD), Landrieu (D-LA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lieberman (D-CT), Menendez (D-NJ), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO) and Stabenow (D-MI), all voted in favor of the bill as well.
One hopes that said “Republicrats” who supported the most destructive and criminal piece of legislation in US history who are standing for re-election this November will soundly be defeated in their races and those who are not will face recall elections for their capitulation to the President on this matter. I, as a life long Progressive Democrat, would rather see such traitors to America and the Democratic ideal defeated than re-elected. For too long, with few exceptions, the Democrats of Congress have failed to fight for the moral high ground, and in that, they fail their constituents. But that is a matter for the Democratic Party and the voters in these respective Senator’s states to address.
But I digress, as I said, the Senate passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 on September 28, and it was quite apparent that President Bush was prepared to sign it into law on October 2 or 3. Knowing full well the President, whose a bit of a Press whore, wanted all the headlines and lead news stories focused on him signing this into law.
Unfortunately for the White House, the Mark Foley page scandal broke over the weekend between passage and intended signing, and the fall out with other Republican Senators, kept the story top of the news for the next two weeks. So President Bush waited for news to die down until October 17, so he could be the top story for signing the bill into law.
Well poor George’s less than stellar scholastic record just came back to haunt him for that decision. Seems he forgot something that anyone who paid attention in a high school civics class would have known. He already effectively vetoed the bill before he attempted to sign it into law.
Let me say that again, the President, who ONLY publicly vetoed Stem Cell Research in his 6 years of office, also vetoed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 before signing it. Confused? Well we know the President and Fox News certainly are!
All those supposed legal and political experts that Fox employs and they all missed the really big news story because they forgot to take Constitutional 101. Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution states:
"...If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. "
This is generally refered to as the “pocket veto” clause of the Constitution. Normally, it is a case when a President just sets a bill aside while Congress is ajourned and lets the 10 day requirement to sign just pass so he doesn’t have to publicly veto the bill.
However, in this case, Constitutionally, because the President failed to sign the bill into law by October 10, 2006, and waited until the 17th for the press coverage, the bill cannot legally be passed into law. The Constitutional requirement negated the bill and rendered it unenforceable by the time President Bush signed it.
There are no amendments of US law exceptions to this provision of the Constitution, therefore no legal means for President Bush to have the Act become law. I am quite sure some group, such as the ACLU or other civil liberties minded group will shortly be filing legal briefs in court to challenge the Constitutionality of the law, and even the conservative Supreme Court, which forced the President to seek this bill, will have no trouble striking it down and requiring the President to go back to Congress to have the bill resubmitted again.
The good thing about all this is, by the time the bill is stricken down in court, assuming the votes are honest in November, George Bush will be dealing with a much different Congress that he won’t be able into strong arming into passing such a bill again.
So, Mr. President, all those little illegal acts the Supreme Court told you that you couldn’t do, like ignoring the Geneva Convention with detainees, that you thought you were legally protected from prosecution for with the Military Commissions Act, NOT!
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