Specter and Bush's Infamous and Oft-Abused Signing Statements

Offered by Dan Froomkin today (but no, I expect nothing useful from Arlen "I'll bend over, just please please pleeeeeaaaassssse don't hurt me again, Mr. Rove!" Specter:

As the United States wages war in the name of democracy, the question arises: What kind of democracy do we ourselves have in a time of war?

We may be getting a better idea if, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is proposing, Congress grants itself the authority to sue President Bush over his "signing statements."

Bush's prodigious use of signing statements to assert his authority to ignore congressionally-passed statutes is unprecedented. Many of those demurrals in particular assert his mandate to wage war without interference from the other branches of government.
As a result, Specter's bill has the potential to spark a historic battle over the separation of powers.

Here's the transcript of Specter's speech on the Senate floor yesterday.