Presidential Signing Statements

Record & deadlines

1. Mar 9, 2009Signed

   Signed by the President

2. Mar 11, 2009FR published

   Published in the Federal Register · 74 FR 10669

   Federal Register PDF
3. Mar 9, 2009

   Agencies must seek Attorney General advice before relying on pre-March 9, 2009 signing statements to disregard statutory provisions

Key directives

• Executive branch to inform Congress of constitutional concerns about pending legislation when practicable
• President to avoid concluding enrolled bill provisions are unconstitutional; act with caution and restraint
• Signing statements must identify constitutional concerns with specificity
• President will construe statutes to avoid constitutional problems only if construction is legitimate
• Agencies must seek Attorney General advice before relying on pre-March 9, 2009 signing statements to disregard statutory provisions

Who is ordered

• Heads of Executive Departments And Agencies · Multiple
• Attorney General · Department of Justice

Prior policyRollback

Flagged as rolling back prior-administration policy.

What to expect

Risks & tensions

• Tension between presidential assertion of constitutional interpretation authority and congressional/statutory supremacy
• Vague standard: 'well-founded' constitutional objections leaves room for dispute
• Non-justiciability disclaimer limits enforceability
• Implicitly repudiates Bush-era expansive signing statement practice without naming it