Co-blogger Eric Posner recently posted Peter Strauss’ analysis of Barack Obama’s first signing statement, which argues that Obama claimed less sweeping power to withhold information from Congress than did President Bush. Michael Stern, an expert on legal issues involving Congress, has now responded to Strauss here [HT: my colleague Nelson Lund]. Whether or not Stern succeeds in proving that Obama’s position is as sweeping as Bush’s was, he certainly does show that Obama’s statement leaves a great deal of room for him to withhold information whenever the administration claims that the public interest might require it:
With regard to the Grassley Rider, Obama says