GEORGE BUSH INTO THE BREACH

AMONG the least well reported aspects of the Bush Presidency are some very public acts: the President’s responses to legislation presented for his signature. The President has vetoed 22 bills (no overrides), often sending detailed messages to Congress relating his objections. This fall he will add to his veto total: likely candidates include revised versions of the family-leave and civil-rights bills he has previously vetoed. More frequently, of course, he has approved bills—more than seven hundred so far—and on some of these occasions he has issued careful signing statements.

Mr. Eastland is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. His book on the Presidency will be published in the spring by The Free Press.

About the Author

Terry Eastland

Mr. Eastland was a publisher of The Weekly Standard. His books include Religious Liberty in the Supreme Court (1993).

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AMONG the least well reported aspects of the Bush Presidency are some very public acts: the President’s responses to legislation presented for his signature. The President has vetoed 22 bills (no overrides), often sending detailed messages to Congress relating his objections. This fall he will add to his veto total: likely candidates include revised versions of the family-leave and civil-rights bills he has previously vetoed. More frequently, of course, he has approved bills—more than seven hundred so far—and on some of these occasions he has issued careful signing statements.

Mr. Eastland is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. His book on the Presidency will be published in the spring by The Free Press.