In about-face, Obama uses signing statement to justify prisoner swap

The prisoner swap that won the release of Bowe Bergdahl raises a policy debate, plus a very real operational one about whether the terms were worth it to the United States. But on the law, President Obama violated a clear legal requirement – included in a December 2013 law – to notify Congress of releases from Guantanamo Bay “not later than 30 days before the transfer or release of the individual.” That’s the law Obama signed. 

But, of course, he added a signing statement saying he disagreed with that part of the law, so he could maintain “the flexibility, among other things, to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers.” Leaving aside the fact that the Taliban is not one of those “foreign countries,” that’s what happened here. This is precisely where signing statements matter. 

Echoing somewhere still is what candidate Obama said of President Bush’s use of signing statements, back in 2008: “I believe in the Constitution, and I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We’re not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress.”