Bruce Fein’s feeble defense of the ABA task force’s foolish report on presidential signing statements provides another occasion to call attention to the other signatories to the report:

Neal R. Sonnett, Miami (task-force chairman)

Mark D. Agrast, Center for American Progress

Mickey Edwards, former congressman from Oklahoma

Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School

Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School

Stephen A. Saltzburg, George Washington University Law School

William S. Sessions, former federal judge and FBI head

Kathleen M. Sullivan, Stanford Law School

Thomas M. Susman, Ropes & Gray (D.C. office)

Patricia M. Wald, former D.C. Circuit judge

(I provide brief identifying information in order to avoid possible confusion with any other persons of the same name.)

When someone signs his or her name to a report, the public naturally trusts that the person has exercised reasonable diligence in determining that the report is sound. Each of the signatories to the ABA’s report either has betrayed that trust or lacks the minimal legal acumen ordinarily associated with that signatory’s position and experience. Remember that next time you hear anything from any of the signatories.