-Caveat Lector-
Subject: on exec orders
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 18:35:19 EDT
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Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 18:27:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Judith P. Lindsey)
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>From World Net Daily - concerns executive orders. William Olsen, who
was a recent guest on Art's program, is interviewed.
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Emergency Rule, Abuse of Power?
By Catherine Edwards
It was never intended that the president should rule by
executive
decree, usurping the legislative role of Congress. But a top
Clinton
aide has called this option 'kinda cool.'
any older Washingtonians will tell you they used to have a
view of the
river from their house. Now they no longer have a river
view; they no
longer have their house. Instead, federal offices filled
with
bureaucrats populate the city. During the course of the last
150 years,
the role of president of the United States has grown
exponentially, as
has his team of workers. Many Americans, critics claim, have
been asleep
as one stealth presidency after another has usurped the
judicial
authority of Congress by means of executive orders,
presidential
directives and proclamations.
. . . . The Constitution dictates that the laws shall
originate in
Congress and the executive branch shall see that they are
"faithfully
executed" (Article II, Section 3). In George Washington's
day, executive
orders were no more than administrative directives to
federal employees.
"They have grown," says Bill Olsen, a constitutional lawyer
and former
Reagan administration official, "to be a deliberate strategy
to
circumvent the Congress and the legislative function." The
more
executive orders on the books, the more the need for a huge
tax-funded
bureaucracy to administer them.
. . . . President Clinton has not been shy about signing his
name to
executive orders. Since his inauguration he has issued
nearly 300, and
his critics claim that he has been reckless, ordering more
than his
predecessors. Not so. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued 3,522,
Woodrow Wilson
issued 1,803, and Honest Abe Lincoln is the only U.S.
president to have
declared martial law by executive order -- which he did
twice. Unlike
Clinton, "all three of these presidents, however, governed
in wartime, a
national emergency which often gives rise to expanded
executive
authority," says political analyst Michael Warder of the
California-based Claremont Institute.
. . . . In 1974, a special Senate Committee on National
Emergencies and
Delegated Emergency Powers was alarmed to find that the
United States
had been governed under emergency authority since 1933.
Committee
cochairman Sen. Frank Church of Idaho cautioned: "It is
distressingly
clear that our constitutional government has been weakened
by 41 years
of emergency rule." Emergencies declared by FDR and Harry
Truman still
were in effect, for example, and the committee found that
over time
aggressive presidents had subsumed 470 legally delegated
powers from
permissive Congresses to govern beyond normal constitutional
powers. The
law allowed presidents to seize property, control
production, restrict
travel and institute martial law. In other words,
"Presidents could
manage every aspect of the lives of all American citizens,"
Church
wrote.
. . . . The 1974 National Emergencies Act sunsetted all
existing
emergencies at that time. Congress then passed legislation
in 1976 and
in 1985 allowing termination of any national emergency by
joint
resolution, though no such resolution has been offered.
. . . . Olsen argues that more citizens know about executive
abuses than
do congressmen, whom he chastises for having been "supine"
in their
response to presidential excess.
. . . . This may be changing, however. Republican Rep. Jack
Metcalf of
Washington state introduced a resolution this year (HR30) to
express the
sense of Congress that any executive order infringing on the
constitutionally delegated congressional powers must be
considered for
advisory purposes only and be ineligible for federal funds.
. . . Cliff Kincaid of the American Sovereignty Action
Project
believes Metcalf's approach is the best course of action.
Kincaid's
group held a conference in early July to highlight
unconstitutional
executive orders and presidential abuses of power. Because
the Metcalf
bill is a resolution, it only can serve to heighten
awareness of the
issue, and Kincaid rightly notes that any legislation with
teeth is
almost certain to be vetoed by the president.
. . . . Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has a different
approach. He
notes that some executive orders are necessary, legitimate
and
constitutional. "Others are abused and are way overstepping
their
bounds," he tells Insight. Paul has proposed legislation
called the
Separation of Powers Restoration Act, which would provide
that whenever
the president signs an executive order under the auspices of
Article II
it may be applied only to federal employees, with
constitutional duties
such as activities pursuant to the military and his role as
commander in
chief protected. Presidential orders issued to accord with
unratified
treaties would be illegal, as would orders to support
ratified treaties
that violate the laws of states and local governments.
. . . . The Paul bill would rescind existing laws that have
violated the
separation of powers, put to bed every national emergency in
effect and
give standing in court to members of Congress, local
governments and
other people aggrieved by executive orders. An aide to Paul
tells
Insight that a possible presidential veto would provide
momentum to get
the two-thirds votes necessary to override a veto.
. . . . A nonprofit grass-roots organization of concerned
citizens and
congressmen recently was formed to redress alleged
presidential abuse of
executive orders. On the Internet at
www.executiveorders.org, the group
is part of the Liberty Study Committee. "For many years the
president,
regardless of what party, has been concentrating more power
into his own
hands by taking away legislative powers of Congress," says
Kent Snyder,
executive director of the Liberty Study Committee. "We are
going to be
relentless." The new group will focus entirely on informing
the public
and Congress about progress of the Paul legislation through
the
Internet, fax and direct mail.
. . . . Why can't this powers conflict be left to the
judiciary? Only
two executive orders have been overturned by the courts: a
Truman order
seizing strike-threatened steel mills during the Korean War
(Youngstown
Steel and Tube Company vs. Sawyer, 1952) and a Clinton order
prohibiting
federal contracts being awarded to companies that hire
permanent
replacements for striking employees (U.S. Chamber of
Commerce vs. Reich,
1995).
. . . . FDR's Executive Order 9066 was upheld by the Supreme
Court
authorizing the dislocation of Japanese-Americans to
confinement camps
during World War II. The court ruled that the president had
acted to
safeguard the national interest during wartime.
. . . . Congressional action and court cases to deal with
legislative
usurpation by the president take time. The president,
however, can issue
executive orders quickly. Last summer, presidential aide
Paul Begala
became enamored of this option. "Stroke of the pen, law of
the land.
Kinda cool," he commented as the president discussed plans
to issue a
series of executive orders upon returning from his 1998 trip
to China.
. . . . Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center cites what
he regards
as severe abuses of executive orders by Clinton. He has
plenty of
company. Among current irritants are:
Invasive Species Executive Order 13112, issued in February,
prevents the
introduction of invasive species to public property. DeWeese
cautions
that because alien species is defined as any species,
"including seeds,
eggs spores or other biological material capable of
propagating that
species that is not native to that ecosystem," alien species
could be
defined to include a farmer's cattle or even the family dog.
Implementation of Human Rights Treaties Executive Order
13107 calls on
the U.S. government to implement human-rights treaties to
which the
United States now is or may become party in the future.
According to the
Constitution the Senate alone may ratify treaties, not the
president
acting on his own authority.
American Heritage Rivers Initiative Executive Order 13061
has caused
considerable consternation in Congress. The president
designated 14
rivers as federal property -- part of America's heritage to
be seized by
the federal government regardless of whether they run
through private
property. Estimates of the program's cost reach $5 million,
none of
which has been appropriated by Congress. House Natural
Resources
Committee Chairman Don Young of Alaska and Rep. Helen
Chenoweth of
Idaho, both Republicans, have filed suit to halt the
initiative.
Federalism Executive Order 13083 established federal
jurisdiction over
states in matters not enumerated in the Constitution. The
president
suspended this order after a public outcry and much media
attention that
accused him of attempting to rewrite the Constitution.
Council on Sustainable Development Executive Order 12852
centers on the
fact that federal and local programs are being set up to
ensure that
Americans sustain the environment. Suburban housing, air
conditioning,
high meat intake, frozen and convenience foods, fossil fuels
and kitchen
appliances are not listed as sustainable.
Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal
Contracting
12833 overturned President Bush's endorsement by executive
order of the
Supreme Court ruling in the Communications Workers vs. Beck
case that
workers for companies under federal contract do not have to
pay union
dues as a condition of employment.
. . . . Meanwhile, Clinton has declared no less than 14
states of
national emergency. This compares to five for Bush and six
for Ronald
Reagan. In early July, the president declared a state of
national
emergency based upon a suspected terrorist threat allegedly
posed by the
Afghan Taliban. Most Americans, no doubt, are unaware that
Clinton also
declared a national emergency based upon Burma's oppression
of
democracy.
. . . . "The usurpation of power started quietly and has
gained respect
over time," warns Metcalf. And Republican Rep. Roscoe
Bartlett of
Maryland cautions that if something doesn't change soon the
executive
branch will continue to expand by executive order and "we'll
need
another revolution."
Click here to go back to the top of this article.
Paul wrote:
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> For the non Americans on the list, would someone be able to explain the
> legal status of Presidential Executive Orders and whether the Supreme Court
> has commented on their potential validity.
>
> Regards
>
> At 07:14 4/08/99 EDT, you wrote:
> > -Caveat Lector-
> >
> >from http://www.heartsongs.org/FEMA.htm
> >
> >
> > FEMA: THE SECRET GOVERNMENT
> > by
> > Harry V. Martin, with research assistance from David Caul
> >
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