The Enabling Acts

The American Constitution is now the Bush Constitution. He has taken upon himself the power to decide whether any law, existing or new, is constitutional.

Bush administration spokesmen told a Boston Globe reporter that 'the president will faithfully execute the law in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.'

"But the words 'in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution' are the catch, legal scholars say, because Bush is according himself the ultimate interpretation of the Constitution. And he is quietly exercising that authority to a degree that is unprecedented in US history.

Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work.

Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files 'signing statements' - official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register."

In just five years, Bush has filed more than 750 signing statements, by far a record for any president.

"The Constitution grants Congress the power to create armies, to declare war, to make rules for captured enemies, and 'to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.' But, citing his role as commander in chief, Bush says he can ignore any act of Congress that seeks to regulate the military."

"Many of the laws Bush has challenged involve national security, where it is almost impossible to verify what the government is doing."

'The Enabling Act' was officially called 'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich'. Its passing in March 1933 meant the end of democracy in Germany and the establishment of legal dictatorship. (The 'distress' had been secretly caused by the Nazis to create a crisis atmosphere.)
"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...", Hitler told the Reichstag.
Source: History Place.