Signing Statements

Presidents have issued statements when signing bills since the early nineteenth century, and James Monroe is often credited with an early example in 1822, when he stated his view of how an army reduction law limited his appointment power. For most of history these statements were rare or ceremonial, explaining the purpose of a law or thanking its sponsors. Signing statements are not mentioned in the Constitution or any statute, and they have no legal force of their own.

Beginning in the 1980s, the Reagan administration used signing statements more systematically to state the President's interpretation of laws and to identify provisions the President considered unconstitutional, and the Justice Department arranged for them to be published alongside congressional committee reports so courts might consider them. Later presidents continued the practice, and President George W. Bush used signing statements to object to more than a thousand provisions, often citing the President's power over national security and the executive branch. Presidents typically issue them through the White House and publish them in the Federal Register and official compilations.

Critics, including a 2006 American Bar Association task force, argued that using signing statements to announce non-enforcement amounts to a line-item veto that the Constitution does not allow, since the President should either veto a bill or execute it faithfully. Defenders say Presidents take an oath to uphold the Constitution and must tell Congress and the public when they believe a provision cannot lawfully be enforced, and that every recent President has done so. Courts have rarely given signing statements significant weight in interpreting statutes.