CBS News has the image of President Obama's autopen signature (affixed to the "Patriot" Act extension) and the real McCoy - they want to know, can you tell the difference?
There is an important Constitutional question here. "Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it," Article 1 Section 7 clearly states.
Yet, this bill was actually neither "presented to" or "signed by" the President.
The White House leaned heavily on a 2005 legal opinion from the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel that stated:
"...the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law."
So far, the White House has ignored lawmakers request for the President to resign the bill -- CBS points out that neither the Federal Register nor the White House Press Release makes any mention of the bill being signed by an autopen.
What are your thoughts?
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