Politics
Obama Aides Lean Against Bypass of Guantanamo Rules
Loading ...President Obama’s aides, confronting a bill that places new restrictions on the transfer of Guantánamo detainees, are likely to recommend that Mr. Obama sharply criticize the limitations when he signs the legislation, a White House official said.
But the current draft of a statement that Mr. Obama may issue when he signs the legislation — a major defense bill that also authorizes billions of dollars for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — does not assert that he has the constitutional authority to lawfully bypass federal statutes containing such limits on transferring military detainees, the official said.
Instead, the draft suggests that the president would seek to reverse the provisions legislatively, or let them expire in September, at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Obama administration’s legal team has been deliberating about several potential options for a signing statement concerning the bill. One option was to merely criticize the restrictions. But another option was to go further by challenging their constitutionality as an intrusion on Mr. Obama’s executive powers.
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