Can Bush's Executive Order be Overruled/Overturned?

[Pryderi]

I was completely unaware of Bush's executive order that would allow presidential papers to remain secret for all time.

from: http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0501c.asp

"Bush’s Presidential-Papers Power Grab
by James Bovard, Posted April 15, 2005

On November 1, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order entitled “Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act.” His order effectively overturned an act of Congress and a Supreme Court decision and could make it far more difficult for Americans to learn of government abuses. Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, declared that the executive order “effectively rewrote the Presidential Records Act, converting it from a measure guaranteeing public access to one that blocks it.”

In 1978, Congress passed the Presidential Records Act, declaring, “The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records.” The act was a response to the titanic clashes between Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Nixon administration over who owned Nixon’s records (especially those pesky tape recordings). The act requires that the unclassified papers of a president be routinely released 12 years after the president’s term ends. There are provisions in the act to justify non-disclosure of information that could threaten national security.

Two months after taking office, Bush’s White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, issued an order delaying the release of 68,000 pages of records from Ronald Reagan’s administration that archivists at the Reagan library had already confirmed did not threaten national security or violate personal privacy. The release of records (including those pertaining to the Iran-Contra scandal) from the Reagan administration could have proven a profound embarrassment to many officials in George W. Bush’s administration as well as to his father (who was vice president under Reagan). "

[onehandle]

1. I believe that the next President can change that.

Pray for a Democrat.

[Dinger]

6. I'll Be Prayin' Like A Sonofabitch!

Then we can find out, and they will pay. Remember:

THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY FALL! bu$h will go down in some nuclear-ass flames! People, I HAVE NO DOUBT, NONE!!

[indepat]

2. W can do as he wishes, be damned the law, the Constitution, the torpedoes

[AlGore-08.com]

3. 3 could change it: another President, Congress, or a SCOTUS suit

1.) If a future President changed it, a different future President could change it back - - and depending on the timing, this could keep all of Smirk's documents secret, because I don't believe any President, even the most liberal, would pass a law saying that all Presidential papers should be made public immediately. There are too many foreign policy implications - - how could you possibly negotiate North Korea into ditching some of it's nukes (or not invading South Korea) if the White House website posted that days Cabinet minutes saying "The President stated that North Korea policy is that we use all means at our disposal except force".

2.) Congress could pass a law overruling the executive order, but the President would have to sign it. If he vetoed it, the Congress could pass it anyway if there was enough "political will". Don't expect this to ever happen as long as Republicans control either House.

3.) A SCOTUS ruling would overturn the executive order, but that requires a number of law suits to be filed, beginning in a lower court, and would take several years at least. The whole point of Team Smirk installing these wing nut judges is to prevent law suits like this (and pro-consumer, pro-environment and pro-civil rights lawsuits) from winning.

[Pryderi]

4. Executive Order Trumps Congressional Act????

Is that how it works? Tha Act was in effect for years b4 Bush's executive order.

[Me.]

5. Well, As * Has Overturned Clinton's Executive Orders

regarding national lands and parks I don't see why his can't be overturned.

[Michael_Bush]

7. I always thought that executive orders were administrative

That they do not make law, nor can they overturn them but they can tweak how a law is read. If the law says "no foreign national who has supported terrorists groups can enter the US" a president can write an executive order saying "foreign ACLU members are supporters of terrorism and thus should be barred from entry"

They can have far reaching implications but can be overturned. The prohibition on assassination of foreign leaders is an executive order if I remember correctly, thus it can be overturned when convenient.

[thecai]

8. Bush's Cover-Up Attempts

Aren't we ENTITLED to know what the self-proclaimed "War President" is up to, along with the history of previous fascist "leaders" in the U.S.?