Back in June 2006, the Senate Judiciary Hearing held a one day hearing on the Bush administration's use of the presidential signing statement. The hearing was spurred in large part from Charlie Savage's April 30 Boston Globe article on the signing statement--the article that put the signing statement--at least for this generation--on the map.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has just released its report on that hearing, and for those who have followed this closely, there is nothing new in the official transcript of that days events. What is interesting is the responses from Michelle Boardman, an OLC attorney who testified that day, to written questions after the hearing ended. There some interesting things I have found in reading her responses. For instance, the members asked her about Bush's constant use of the term "unitary executive" in his signing statement, and whether that was an indication that he was using the signing statement to enhance executive power overall, which would be different from previous presidents. In her response, she notes that previous presidents also pointed to the unitary executive in their signing statement--in particular Reagan and Bush I. Reagan and Bush I did make mention of the unitary executive, but only a handful of occasions. By the second year of Bush's first term, every one of his constitutional signing statements carried the qualified "unitary executive" which was often left open-ended, suggesting that it was not just to "supervise the unitary executive branch," as Ms. Boardman implies in her written responses. This is also important because she suggests to the Senate Judiciary Committee without any challenge from them that the unitary executive only means that the president has the right to control the behavior of those who work from them--control their communications with each other and with anyone outside the executive branch. That is just one peg of the theory. It also believes that the "Vestings" clause gives to the president ALL executive power inside and outside the Constitution and via the "Oath" clause it commands the president to reject anything that contradicts HIS reading of the Constitution. Boardman's dimunitive interpretation mirrored that of Justice Alito when he was asked what the term meant to him during his confirmation hearings in January 2006 (shameless plug: I have a co-edited volume on the unitary executive due out later this year from Texas A&M University Press).
I am continuing to scan through the report, and if you are interested in the subject, I encourage you do the same!
