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Article: Presidential signing statements: above the law?
- Article from:
- National Voter
- Article date:
- February 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 League of Women Voters. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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That final flourish of the presidential pen has a certain magic to it. Seated in the Rose Garden, television cameras recording every movement and every spoken word, the President of the United States performs an act of transformation. What was once just an idea now has emerged (often after a long and bitter struggle) as an official act of the United States Congress. Surrounded by smiling legislators and supporters (each of whom will receive a souvenir pen and a copy of the legislation, suitable for framing), the President takes the final step and turns that idea into the law of the land. It is a moment that symbolizes the way American government works, the real world of ...