In a decisive 1–0 decision on Thursday, September 29, President George W. Bush signed an Executive Order granting himself the constitutional power to grant himself additional constitutional power. The Bush Empowerment Act, which Vice President Cheney wrote on Oval Office stationary and was promptly signed into law by Mr. Bush, grants the President the power to increase his authority over all three branches of government.
"In a time of war, I must have the authority to make difficult decisions including the right to grant myself additional authority over Congress and the Courts. To do otherwise would be playing into the hands of our enemies who have sworn to kill all of us”, said President Bush.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez stated that the Bush Empowerment Act is legal under the due process clause of the US Constitution as he interprets it. Gonzalez emphasized that the role of Congress and the Supreme Court will not be undermined with this new law. According to Gonzalez, the Bush Empowerment Act grants both Congress and the Supreme Court full authority to grant President Bush the additional authority needed to increase the President’s authority.
In a press conference today, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont criticized the Bush Empowerment Act calling it a dark day in American history. According to Senator Leahy; “the only thing the US Senate can now do is withhold our authority in granting President Bush more authority that will allow the President to grant himself even more authority unless, of course, Mr. Bush uses his newly expanded authority to strip Congress of their authority if Congress attempts to restrict President Bush’s authority”.
Republicans, fearful that the President's new authority undermines their ability to grant him additional power, will propose legislation that would allow Congress to give President Bush more authority with or without Presidential approval.
However, some Republicans, who refused to be named, were fearful that the Empowerment Act, written and signed into law by President Bush so close to November elections, will result in a takeover of Congress by Democrats unless President Bush grants himself the right to stop that from happening under his authority in the Patriot Act.
“It will be interesting to see,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, “if Bush’s new authority to grant himself more authority, at the expense of Congress’s authority to grant the President more authority, will in fact prevent Bush from being impeached when Democrats take control of both houses of Congress in January of 2007. We are in uncharted waters. We just don’t know,” said Senator Frist.
Addendum:
George W. Bush: “The Senate sent a strong signal to the terrorists today that we will continue using every element of national power to pursue our enemies and to prevent attacks on America.”
Translation: When we break into your home in the middle of the night and take you to an undisclosed location, may God have mercy on your soul if we find any Muslim or Islam bookmarks on your browser. And please, don’t waste either your time or our time demanding to speak with an attorney. It’s not going to happen.