DENVER - Maybe it’s his background teaching constitutional law.
If elected president, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama said one of the first things he wants to do is ensure the constitutionality of all the laws and executive orders passed while Republican President George W. Bush has been in office.
Those that don’t pass muster will be overturned, he said.
During a fund-raiser in Denver, Obama — a former constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School — was asked what he hoped to accomplish during his first 100 days in office.
“I would call my attorney general in and review every single executive order issued by George Bush and overturn those laws or executive decisions that I feel violate the constitution,” said Obama
Other goals for his first 100 days: work out a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq; make progress on alternative energy plans and launch legislation to reform the health care system.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage
Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking (Obama talks to students during a visit to a school in Thornton, CO)
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This debate could be instructive. Posters seem rational and friendly. This statement by Obama is reassuring but obvious. Obama has been endorsed by many constitutional authorities. He knows executive powers.
- Posted by nihilThe President has certain powers delegated by the Constition or ceded to him over the years by custom or inattention of Congress and the courts. Notice that Constitution refers to the P. as “he.” Shall we ignore that? Executive Orders limit members of the Executive Branch only, not citizens or Congress. If an officer violates the Constitution or any law and refers to an XO as authority, any federal court can throw out the order. The President has enormous powers. Lincoln started the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. FDR ended wage discrimination by race in the WPA. Truman end apartheit in the military. A secret FDR XO set up a special court to try the Nazi sabateurs. They were killed (except for one who ratted.) It may have been Constitutional under C-in-C powers. He ordered American warships to shoot submarines on site beforee 12/7/41.
Signing statements only limit Executive Branch behavior. Any officer who violates any of them countermands the President. Not conducive to a long career. Any President can cancel any XO or Signing Statement with a stroke of the pen. To be legal, the XO must be within the power of the President. There are also Regulations issued by Executive agencies under the legislative authority granted on agency establishment or amendment. The President can try to change these directly, but any court will treat that as a misuse of executive power. The thwarted President must then order the agency to go through the procedure specified in legislation — usually an open comment period, but Congress has a legislative veto. Obama knows all this stuff, and will not make the absurd blunders W has made. Obama’s advisors are exammining laws and XOs and making lists of orders to be changed or issued. It will be long. I just hope its long enough to fix the orders that need fixing.
Don’t get too excited about Obama just yet. After all he did vote FOR Patriot Act II. There’s no reason to believe ANYTHING that Obama says.
- Posted by dboyObama has touched the hearts and minds of all those frustrated US citizens who have witnessed the moral rape of their country by an unprincipled business magnate.
Let the healing begin - and help Obama to exsponge the tainted, painful scars made by a US president who will go down in US history as the worst ever.
- Posted by The Truth Is...I have been A-political my entire life. Politics has always been a zero-sum game that I never wanted any part of. This may sound odd coming from a law “professor” but the wisest man I know (my father) told me there is no place in law for politics - at least not in the American sense of the word. Not until Obama have I believed in any Presidential candidate. I believe in him, I believe he will do what’s right - not politically correct and I believe he can turn our great country around and start the healing America so needs. I just sincerely hope he doesn’t disappoint!
- Posted by JimA lot of people forget or overlook Obama’s oft-stated belief in Our Constitution and our personal freedom. He’s an expert on our Constitution and has pledged to follow it to the letter. We will regain our freedoms yet finish off the terrorists who reside on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We refuse to surrender our freedom to Bin Laden.
- Posted by Joe BlowI will vote for Obama , and , he better undue all Bush has set in place , or , he can forget about a second term .
- Posted by Barbara bergstromNice to see Reuters editing out my posts that really drive home any points from the right. Way to keep up your reputation as an unbiased news organization. What’s your standard? 20:1 ratio of lib posts to conservative? Pathetic.
- Posted by Matt“1) As you are and have been a member of the United States Senate for the last four years, I would have expected you would have evaluated any legislation during that time period to insure you were helping to pass only laws which are constitutional.”
Fair enough.
“Do you, therefore, only intend to review laws from before you were a member of the Senate for Constitutionality or are those laws enacted since you took office also planned for review? If the former, please explain why you failed to take the time while you were in the Senate to review what your predecessors had done.”
That’s a rediculous standard. No Senator — especially one running for President — has the time to review all circumspect laws passed before they came into office. What, he’s supposed to not only review the laws he’s involved in but those that came before… not that as a Senator he’d be able to do anything about them right now, but just IN CASE a chance ever comes along… oh, and also he’d have to run for President in order to get in that position to change it.
Riiiiight. Yeah, he “failed” alright. Failed to work himself into the grave.
“If the latter, please explain why you were lax in carrying out your duties as a US Senator?”
What, you mean like on bills he voted against but were passed into law anyway? Or executive orders he had no involvement in? I guess maybe, if he’d carried around a club and intimidated everyone into doing what he felt was right he would have fulfilled his duties to adequate conclusion?
“2) Since you have indicated it is your intention, if elected, to meet with your Attorney General to review existing legislation and overturn that which you consider unconstitutional, I must ask you to please identify precisely what power granted by the Constitution to the office of the Presidency allows such a unilateral action on your behalf?”
He can overturn executive orders deemed unconstitutional.
“Do you believe that you are not personally subject to the US Constitution? The Separation of Powers given by that historic and monumental document does not allow the President to subsume the functions of the courts and the judiciary.”
Right — like he literally meant he was going to go over the heads of the Supreme Court. Come ON.
- Posted by Brandon ButlerJnon-
Are you kidding with this?
There are two ways of winning in this world: 1) Do something better than everyone else or 2) Bring everyone down to make only you look good. You guys tend to be category number 2.
I don’t care if it was Obama or McCain or some dog in an astronaut suit that wants to do this, scrutinizing Bush’s orders is a good thing to do, and all you’re doing is saying “Oh sorry, you’re not qualified.”
You guys missed the point, and missed your purpose in life.
Oh, and sorry, you’re not qualified.
By broadly accusing Obama’s critics of bringing people down to make themselves feel better - simply because they are his critics - do you not realize that’s exactly what you’re doing?
Like pretty much every other lib on here, you spend a fraction of your time on actual issues and go right for the throat with personal insults of anyone with whom you do not agree. For the party that claims to be the “champions of free speech,” you sure don’t want to hear opinions that aren’t identical to yours.
- Posted by MattWhat a breath of fresh air to hear more specifics on Obama’s plans for change in this country.
Of course, its too often pearls before swine. The above article (which likely to go unread by those who most need to read it) is a tidy answer to the masses of the ignorant and uninformed, who love to ask and mass-email the questions: “CHANGE? What’s he gonna change? He’s all talk and no action!”
Obama seeks to restore the integrity of the Constitution, the protection of which would not only be his sworn duty as President, but sorely needed in the wake of past 7 years, as Executive Order has been exploited, for ill means, to undermine both the spirit and the letter of Constitutional Law.
- Posted by Laura from SCThe Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as “Senior Lecturer.”
From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School’s Senior Lecturers has high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined.
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index. html
- Posted by Just to clarifyI couldn’t even get past the first two comments without shaking my head in wonderment at how poorly educated and informed people seem to be about what has been done to them during the past 7-1/2 years. First of all, to kdurham68, Senator Obama is talking about executive orders, which we can call laws because they have that effect. Many of the executive orders that have been issued by Bush are frighteningly Orwellian in their strictures. Furthermore, members of the Senate and/or the House have no control whatsoever over whether or not an executive order is issued, and whether or not its intents are carried out. I would suggest that you read these executive orders, which can be accessed on the White House website.
And to Jack from Kansas. First of all, Senator Obama was indeed a professor, an associate professor, but a professor nonetheless and not merely a lecturer. Some fact-checking on your part might have been helpful. And I hope you read what I wrote to kdurham68 above. Those executive orders have the effect of laws and many of them are unconstitutional at their very core.
I’m sure that as I read through more of these comments, I will feel like tearing out my hair. We must have an educated and informed electorate if we are ever going to get this country back on the right track, the one that allows us to resurrect our Constitution, improve our domestic situation, and elevate our standing in the world community. Let’s get to it.
- Posted by MumThank God! I noticed Hillary or McCain have not signed the restore the constitution pledge. Obama can clear out all the BS signing statements and executive orders which torture, renditions, breaking the laws intent and other important constitutional crises.
- Posted by KQuarkIf Mr. Obama intends to seriously examine the constitutionality of the actions of previous administrations, he’d better start with Woodrow Wilson.
- Posted by Some GuyWhy does Hussein Obama hate this country?
- Posted by Bill SteinThank God, Buddha, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Frogs and Princes!
We have someone who wants to be in the Whitehouse who isn’t also interested in being an unjust tyrant and war-profiteer.
It’s been a loooooong time comin’!
Don
- Posted by DonGandhiGuy.com
George Bush can’t even spell constitution. I think his executive orders, such as:
May 1 Executive Order: Blocking Property and Prohibiting Certain Transactions Related to Burma
Apr. 18 Executive Order: Amending Executive Orders 13389 and 13390
Feb. 29 Executive Order: President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board
Feb. 15 Executive Order: Providing An Order of Succession Within the Department of Health and Human Services
Feb. 13 Executive Order: Blocking Property of Additional Persons in Connection with the National Emergency with Respect to Syria
Feb. 7 Executive Order: Improving the Coordination and Effectiveness of Youth Programs
Feb. 5 Executive Order: Implementation of the Protocol Additional to the Agreement Between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America
Jan. 29 Executive Order: Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks
Jan. 23 Executive Order: Further Amendment of Executive Order 11858 Concerning Foreign Investment in the United States
Jan. 22 Executive Order: Establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
Jan. 4 Executive Order: Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay
Dec. 6 Executive Order: Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2007
Nov. 28 Executive Order: Establishing An Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the National Railroad Passenger Corporation and Certain of Its Employees Represented by Certain Labor Organizations
Nov. 19 Executive Order: President Bush Designates The ITER International Fusion Energy Organization As a Public International Organization
Nov. 13 Executive Order: Improving Government Program Performance
Oct. 20 Executive Order: Protection of Striped Bass and Red Drum Fish Populations
Oct. 19 Executive Order: Blocking Property and Prohibiting Certain Transactions Related to Burma
Sept. 28 Executive Order: Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees and Amendments to and Revocation of Other Executive Orders
Sept. 28 Executive Order: Further 2007 Amendments to the Manual for Courts Martial, United States
Sept. 27 Executive Order: Strengthening Adult Education
Sept. 12 Executive Order: Extending Privileges and Immunities to the African Union Mission to the United States
Aug. 17 Executive Order: Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation
Aug. 13 Executive Order: Amending the Order of Succession in the Department of Homeland Security
Aug. 2 Executive Order: Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions
Jul. 20 Executive Order: Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency
Jul. 18 Executive Order: Establishing An Interagency Working Group on Import Safety
Jul. 17 Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq
Jun. 29 Executive Order: Further Amending Executive Order 13381, as Amended, to Extend Its Duration by One Year
Jun. 29 Executive Order: Waiver Under the Trade Act of 1974 with Respect to Turkmenistan
Jun. 20 Executive Order: Expanding Approved Stem Cell Lines in Ethically Responsible Ways
May 17 Executive Order: National Security Professional Development
May 16 Executive Order: Protecting American Taxpayers From Payment of Contingency Fees
May 14 Fact Sheet: Twenty in Ten: Strengthening Energy Security and Addressing Climate Change
May 14 Executive Order: Cooperation Among Agencies in Protecting the Environment with Respect to Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Motor Vehicles, Nonroad Vehicles, and Nonroad Engines
May 9 Executive Order: Establishment of Temporary Organization to Facilitate United States Government Assistance for Transition in Iraq
Apr. 18 Executive Order: 2007 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States
Apr. 4 Executive Order: Establishing An Emergency Board to Investigate a Dispute Between Metro-North Railroad and Its Maintenance of Way Employees Represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Apr. 2 Executive Order: Renaming a National Forest in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Mar. 7 Executive Order: Extending Privileges and Immunities to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations
Mar. 6 Executive Order: Establishing a Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors and a Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes
Feb. 14 Executive Order Trial of Alien Unlawful Enemy Combatants by Military Commission
Jan. 26 Executive Order: Further Amendment to Executive Order 13285, Relating to the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation
Jan. 24 Executive Order: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management
Jan. 18 Executive Order: Further Amendment to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review
———END 2007———————————–
Lest we forget, Executive Order 9006 by FDR authorized the “relocation” (internment) of American citizens of Japanese descent.
- Posted by RJ KrugerExecutive orders can be overturned. Congress can repeal laws and the way things are going, the five Republican senators and 50 congressmen will have trouble passing laws praising cats and dogs.
- Posted by RussI don’t know whats wrong with me, I don’t have a political bone in my entire body, BUT! This woman makes my skin crawl!
She believes that she has the poor-ignorant-white-vote tied up!
Now, tell me, are you one of her supporters?
- Posted by steveballmerTo kdurham68 and Jack and everyone else who are countering Obama’s statement:
There are two ways of winning in this world: 1) Do something better than everyone else or 2) Bring everyone down to make only you look good. You guys tend to be category number 2.
I don’t care if it was Obama or McCain or some dog in an astronaut suit that wants to do this, scrutinizing Bush’s orders is a good thing to do, and all you’re doing is saying “Oh sorry, you’re not qualified.”
You guys missed the point, and missed your purpose in life.
Oh, and sorry, you’re not qualified.
- Posted by jnon