New US-Law threatens democracy, page 1

Originally posted by DaSeitz
www.whitehouse.gov...
This law enables the US President to ignore the congress in the case of "Catastrophic Emergency".
If this has been posted before, close the thread.
Greetings from Germany

Did you actually read the entire thing or are you just parroting what somebody else said about this directive? Read up, here's a good quote from your source. This doesn't make the President able to ignore Congress, it provides for a way to keep the executive branch functional. The other two branches are responsible for keeping their branches operational.

www.whitehouse.gov...
(e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;
...
(9) Recognizing that each branch of the Federal Government is responsible for its own continuity programs, an official designated by the Chief of Staff to the President shall ensure that the executive branch's COOP and COG policies in support of ECG efforts are appropriately coordinated with those of the legislative and judicial branches in order to ensure interoperability and allocate national assets efficiently to maintain a functioning Federal Government.

The only section I see that even remotely resembles what you're describing is the following:

(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies. The Continuity Policy Coordination Committee (CPCC), chaired by a Senior Director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, shall be the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination.

and nowhere in there does it say that the President can ignore congress. It only says that he shall lead the activities to ensure constitutional government.

However, one thing I have to wonder, not being an expert in Constitutionality is does the President really have the power to lay down an executive order like this? Regardless of the fact that it doesn't fit the OP's description IMO, I wonder when I see these executive orders what the limit is. Is there a way for congress to repeal executive orders?

[edit on 25-7-2007 by BlueTriangle]