Presidential signing statement disputes provisions of National Defense Authorization Act.

• Jurisdiction: Derecho Internacional
• Date: 01 April 2013
• Author: Crook, John R.

In early January 2013, President Barack Obama approved H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013; earlier versions of the legislation included provisions that drew a White House veto threat. (1) The president issued a signing statement questioning the constitutionality of provisions limiting transfers of detainees from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at Parwan Prison in Afghanistan and examining other provisions affecting military and foreign affairs. (2) An excerpt follows:

Today I have signed into law H.R. 4310, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013." I have approved this annual defense authorization legislation, as I have in previous years, because it authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the world. Even though I support the vast majority of the provisions contained in this Act, which is comprised of hundreds of sections spanning more than 680 pages of text, I do not agree with them all. Our Constitution does not afford the President the opportunity to approve or reject statutory sections one by one. I am empowered either...