CIVIL LIBERTIES - BUSH AGAIN PUSHES 'MIND-BOGGLINGLY EXPANSIVE CONCEPTION' OF EXECUTIVE POWER:

Earlier this month, President Bush released a signing statement on the Patriot Act that "nearly went unnoticed." The legislation "contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers." Yet in his signing statement on the bill, Bush said he "did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information." "Past presidents occasionally used such signing statements to describe their interpretations of laws, but Bush has expanded the practice." Late last year, he released a similar statement after signing the torture ban into law that "quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief." New York University law professor David Golove said Bush's propensity for the statements is symptomatic of the White House's "mind-bogglingly expansive conception" of executive power.

From the Center for American Progress