Opinion: The other Hyde amendment

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Congress passes a bill and the president signs it, but reserves the right not to enforce parts of it that he considers unconstitutional.

Obviously a reference to the imperious George W. Bush, who is notorious for hedging his approval of legislation with “signing statements” like the one he attached to the 2005 McCain Amendment outlawing torture of suspected terrorists.

Actually, the president in this case was Bill Clinton.

After the death of former Rep. Henry Hyde, Declan McCullagh noted on his CNET blog that, in addition to pushing for removal from office and leading the charge against taxpayer-subsidized abortions, Hyde was the author of an amendment to the 1996 telecommunications law that made it a felony to distribute information over the Internet relating to obtaining an abortion. In a signing statement, Clinton said ‘I...object to the provision in the Act concerning the transmittal of abortion-related speech and information.’ He noted further that the Justice Department had advised him ‘that this and related abortion provisions in current law are unconstitutional and will not be enforced because they violate the First Amendment.’

McCullagh notes that the Justice Department under Bush also has declined to enforce the Hyde amendment, a posture unlikely to bring criticism from those who think Bush put himself “above the law” with his signing statements.