CHAPTER TEn • THE PREsidEnCy 237
Signing Statement
A written declaration
that the president may
make when signing
a bill into law. It may
contain instructions to
the bureaucracy on how
to administer the law or
point to sections of the
law that the president
considers unconstitutional
or contrary to national
security interests.
Impeachment
An action by the House
of Representatives to
accuse the president, vice
president, or other civil
officers of the United
States of committing
“Treason, Bribery, or
other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.”Office had been recorded on a secret system, Nixon was ordered to turn over the tapes to
the special prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
Nixon refused to do so, claiming executive privilege. He argued that “no president
could function if the private papers of his office, prepared by his personal staff, were open
to public scrutiny.” In 1974, in one of the Supreme Court’s most famous cases, United
States v. Nixon,^15 the justices unanimously ruled that Nixon had to hand over the tapes.
The Court held that executive privilege could not be used to prevent evidence from being
heard in criminal proceedings.signing statements
Is the president allowed to refuse to enforce certain parts of legislation if he or she
believes that they are unconstitutional? This question came to the forefront in recent
years because of President George W. Bush’s extensive use of signing statements. A
signing statement is a written declaration that a president may make when signing
a bill into law regarding the law’s enforcement. Presidents have been using such state-
ments for decades, but President Bush used 161 statements to invalidate more than
one thousand provisions of federal law. No previous president used signing statements
to make such sweeping claims on behalf of presidential power. Earlier presidents often
employed statements to serve notice that parts of bills might be unconstitutional, but
they were just as likely to issue statements that were purely rhetorical. Statements might
praise Congress and the measure it had just passed—or denounce the opposition party.
During his first presidential campaign, Barack Obama criticized Bush’s use of signing
statements. As president, Obama’s statements have been more in line with tradition.
About half of his statements have been entirely rhetorical.Abuses of Executive Power and impeachment
Presidents normally leave office either because their first term has expired and they
have not sought (or won) reelection or because, having served two full terms, they are
not allowed to be elected for a third term (owing to the Twenty-second Amendment,
passed in 1951). Eight presidents have died in office. But there is still another way for
a president to leave office—by impeachment and conviction. Articles I and II of the
Constitution authorize the House and Senate to remove the president, the vice presi-
dent, or other civil officers of the United States for committing “Treason, Bribery, or
other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” According to the Constitution, the impeach-
ment process begins in the House, which impeaches (accuses) the federal officer involved.
If the House votes to impeach the officer, it draws up articles of impeachment and submits
them to the Senate, which conducts the actual trial.Presidents Andrew Johnson and Richard nixon. In the history of the United States,
no president has ever actually been impeached and also convicted—and thus removed
from office—by means of this process. President Andrew Johnson (1865–1869), who
succeeded to the office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was impeached by
the House but acquitted by the Senate. More than a century later, the House Judiciary
Committee approved articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon for his
involvement in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in of 1972. Informed by members
of his own party that he had no hope of surviving the trial in the Senate, Nixon resigned15. 318 U.S. 683 (1974).
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