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Presidential Signing Statements Research Guide

INTRODUCTION

When Presidents sign bills into law, they sometimes issue written statements expressing their views on those bills. These written statements are known as “presidential signing statements.” Presidents often use signing statements to express their intention not to enforce parts of legislation that they consider to be unconstitutional. Since at least the Reagan era, scholars, jurists, and others have debated whether presidential signing statements should be considered as legislative history for purposes of interpreting federal statutes. In a recent example, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia disagreed with his brethren’s disregard of a signing statement related to the Detainee Treatment Act, Pub. L. No. 109-148, §§ 1005-1006, 119 Stat. 2736 (2005). Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006) (Scalia dissenting).

This guide is intended as a starting point for research about presidential signing statements. It is not a comprehensive listing of all materials on the subject. For help finding other types of presidential documents, consult the Library's Presidential Documents Research Guide [http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/presidential_documents.cfm] or contact the reference desk at (202) 662-9140.

SOURCES OF PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS

The full-text of presidential signing statements may be found in the following sources:

ARTICLES

1. Short Articles

This section links to recent brief news articles, as well as opinion pieces. The articles are listed in reverse chronological order.

  • Walter Dellinger, A Slip of the Pen, N.Y. Times, July 31, 2006, at A17. Op-ed piece by the author of a Clinton-era DOJ memo on the legal significance of signing statements. The article asserts that the Bush administration cites his memo while ignoring its cautionary guidelines.
  • Untangling the Debate on Signing Statements, Georgetown Law Faculty Blog, July 31, 2006, http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georgetown_university_law/2006/07/thanks_to_the_p.html. Blog post co-written by eight former U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel attorneys.
  • John W. Dean, The Bush Administration's Adversarial Relationship with Congress --
    as Illustrated by Its Refusal to Even Provide the Number of Signing Statements Issued by President Bush    , FindLaw's Writ, July 14, 2006, http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060714.html.
  • Brian Friehl, The Signing Statement Games, Nat'l J., June 17, 2006, at 65.
  • Chitra Ragavan, Cheney's Guy, U.S. News & World Report, May 29, 2006, at 32. Profiles David Addington, Cheney's chief of staff and the lawyer largely responsible for President George W. Bush's use of signing statements in objecting to parts of legislation.
  • Dahlia Lithwick, Sign Here: Presidential Signing Statements Are More Than Just Executive Branch Lunacy, Slate, Jan. 30, 2006, http://www.slate.com/id/2134919/.
  • Adam Liptak, Presidential Signing Statements, and Alito's Role in Them, Are Questioned, N.Y. Times, Jan. 14, 2006, at A11.
  • John W. Dean, The Problem with Presidential Signing Statements: Their Use and Misuse by the Bush Administration, FindLaw’s Writ, Jan. 13, 2006, http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060113.html.
  • Steve Sheppard, Presidential Signing Statements: How to Find Them, How to Use Them, and What They Might Mean, 2006 Ark. L. Notes 87.

2. Scholarly Articles

The articles below are from scholarly publications, including law reviews, listed in reverse chronological order. Where available, links are given to the articles on the Internet or in subscription databases.

  • Symposium: The Last Word? The Constitutional Implications of Presidential Signing Statements, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 1-314 (2007). Includes the following articles and others:
    • Neal Devins, Signing Statements and Divided Government, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 63 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Saikrishna Prakash, Why the President Must Veto Unconstitutional Bills, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 81 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Nelson Lund, Signing Statements in Perspective, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 95 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Michele Estrin Gilman, Litigating Presidential Signing Statements, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 131 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Louis Fisher, Signing Statements: Constitutional and Practical Limits, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 183 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Phillip J. Cooper, Signing Statements as Declaratory Judgments: The President as Judge, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 253 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Christopher S. Kelley, A Matter of Direction: The Reagan Administration, the Signing Statement, and the 1986 Westlaw Decision, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 283 (2007). [Lexis]
    • Neil Kinkopf, Signing Statements and Statutory Interpretation in the Bush Administration, 16 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 307 (2007). [Lexis]
  • Neil Kinkopf & Peter M. Shane, Signed Under Protest: A Database of Presidential Signing Statements, 2001-2006, Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 106 (Oct. 2007), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1022202.
  • Christopher S. Kelley, Who is at Fault Here? The Bush Administration, Presidential Power, and the Signing Statement, MSL L. Rev. (forthcoming), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=976235.
  • Note, Context-Sensitive Deference to Presidential Signing Statements, 120 Harv. L. Rev. 597 (2006). [Westlaw] [Lexis]
  • Curtis A. Bradley & Eric A. Posner, Presidential Signing Statements and Executive Power, U. Chi. Pub. L. Working Paper No. 133 (2006), http://ssrn.com/abstract=922400.
  • Louis Fisher Signing Statements: What to Do?, The Forum: Vol. 4: No. 2, Article 7 (2006),
    available at http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol4/iss2/art7.
  • Phillip J. Cooper, George W. Bush, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Use and Abuse of Presidential Signing Statements, 35 Presidential Stud. Q. 515 (2005). [ProQuest Research Library] (GULC students, faculty, and staff only)
  • Christopher S. Kelley, A Comparative Look at the Constitutional Signing Statement: The Case of Bush and Clinton (2003), http://mpsa.indiana.edu/conf2003papers/1031858822.pdf. Paper presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association.
  • Kristy L. Carroll, Comment, Whose Statute Is It Anyway?: Why and How Courts Should Use Presidential Signing Statements When Interpreting Federal Statutes, 46 Cath. U.L. Rev. 475 (1997). [Westlaw] [Lexis]
  • Christopher N. May, Presidential Defiance of "Unconstitutional" Laws: Reviving the Royal Prerogative, 21 Hastings Const. L.Q. 865 (1994). Examines several methods Presidents use to defy legislation they deem unconstitutional, including signing statements. [Westlaw]
  • Christine E. Burgess, When May a President Refuse to Enforce the Law? 72 Tex. L. Rev. 631 (1994). Discusses signing statements as one mechanism Presidents use in refusing to enforce laws they deem unconstitutional. [Westlaw] [Lexis]
  • William D. Popkin, Judicial Use of Presidential Legislative History: A Critique, 66 Ind. L.J. 699 (1991). [Westlaw] [Lexis]
  • Kathryn Marie Dessayer, Note, The First Word: The President's Place in "Legislative History," 89 Mich. L. Rev. 399 (1990). Argues that Presidential documents, including messages, proposals, and legislative drafts, are relevant to statutory interpretation because of the President's legislative role. [Westlaw] [Lexis]
  • Frank B. Cross, The Constitutional Legitimacy and Significance of Presidential "Signing Statements," 40 Admin. L. Rev. 209 (1988). [HeinOnline] (GULC students, faculty, and staff only)
  • Marc N. Garber & Kurt A. Wimmer, Presidential Signing Statements as Interpretations Of Legislative Intent: An Executive Aggrandizement Of Power, 24 Harv. J. on Legis. 363 (1987). [Westlaw]
  • Brad Waites, Note, Let Me Tell You What You Mean: An Analysis of Presidential Signing Statements, 21 Ga. L. Rev. 755 (1987). [Westlaw] [Lexis]

BOOKS & BOOK CHAPTERS

The books below are available in the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library or on the Internet.

  • Christopher S. Kelley, The Unitary Executive and the Presidential Signing Statement (2003) (unpublished doctoral dissertation), available at http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?miami1057716977.
  • "Presidential Signing Statements: A Different Kind of Line Item Veto," in Philip J. Cooper, By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action (2002).  KF5053 .C578 2002. Check availability.
  • "Signing Statements: Introduction," in Christopher N. May, Presidential Defiance of "Unconstitutional" Laws: Reviving the Royal Prerogative (1998).  KF5065 .M39 1998. Check availability.
  • "Signing Statements: Acquiescence, Avoidance, and Compliance," in Christopher N. May, Presidential Defiance of "Unconstitutional" Laws: Reviving the Royal Prerogative (1998).  KF5065 .M39 1998. Check availability.
  • "Signing Statements: Noncompliance," in Christopher N. May, Presidential Defiance of "Unconstitutional" Laws: Reviving the Royal Prerogative (1998).  KF5065 .M39 1998. Check availability.
  • "Striking Down or Revising Laws: Signing Statements in the Bush Presidency," in Charles Tiefer, The Semi-Sovereign Presidency: The Bush Administration's Strategy for Governing without Congress (1994).  E881 .T54 1994. Check availability.

POLICY REPORTS

This section includes in-depth policy reports by the American Bar Association, the Congressional Research Service (an arm of the Library of Congress), and the General Accountability Office.

BILLS

The bills below were introduced during the 109th Congress to address what some legislators saw as the abuse of signing statements in the George W. Bush administration.

HEARINGS

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INTERNAL MEMORANDA

The following memos were written by Department of Justice attorneys during the Reagan and Clinton administrations:

  • Memorandum from Walter Dellinger, Assistant Attorney General, to Bernard N. Nussbaum, Counsel to the President, The Legal Significance of Presidential Signing Statements (Nov. 3, 1993), reprinted at 48 Ark. L. Rev. 333 (1994).
  • Memorandum from Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General, to the Litigation Strategy Working Group, U.S. Department of Justice, Using Presidential Signing Statement to Make Fuller Use of the President's Constitutionally Assigned Role in the Process of Enacting Law (Feb. 5, 1986) (on file with the United States Archives), available at http://www.archives.gov.

WEB SITES

Created 01/2007 (SK)
Revised 7/19/2007 (SK)

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