Signing Statements and Power Grabs

For all the angst about President Bush's signing statements you would think that he re-wrote the laws. The best-publicized statement was the one on the torture bill. Bush basically said that he would enforce it consistently with the powers granted him by the Constitution. Anyone who objects to that would seem to be saying that Congress can pass a law limiting the power granted the President by the Constitution. So who is doing the power grab?

Regardless of signing statements, the President as chief executive gets to decide how laws will be administered, anyway.

Signing statements have been used for more than two decades. Bush has used them most of his presidency. So why are we just now hearing about them? Because of the connection to Alito. He had advised President Reagan to use them. No one cared at the time or in the intervening decades but now that Alito is up for the Supreme Court they are suddenly an issue - or an excuse to provide cover for Democrats to vote against a qualified nominee.