Candidate Obama made it clear on the campaign trail that he rejected the ABAโ€™s risible conclusion that a president may not properly use signing statements to state his constitutional objections to provisions in laws that he is signing:

โ€œNo one doubts that it is appropriate to use signing statements to protect a presidentโ€™s constitutional prerogatives.โ€

Well, no one other than the members of the ABAโ€™s task force that produced its ridiculous report. (For various of my criticisms of the ABAโ€™s report, see here, here, here, and here.)

Given that the ABA is pigheadedly sticking to its position, Iโ€™m glad to see this report that President Obama, in signing the omnibus spending bill today, โ€œreleased a โ€˜signing statementโ€™ in which he said several of the billโ€™s provisions raised constitutional concerns.โ€ (As for the omnibus bill itself, I doubt very much that it is to be welcomed.)