WASHINGTON, July 24: US President George Bush has overstepped the bounds of his office by disregarding selected portions of newly-passed congressional law, a blue-ribbon legal panel said in a report issued on Monday.

Mr Bush has made liberal use of ‘presidential signing statements’ which outline his objections to — and his intention to disregard — parts of new legislation.

Many of the signing statements have been attached to bills on national security, intelligence and law enforcement — issues with increased prominence since the Sept 11 attacks.

Critics — including the task force empanelled by the American Bar Association (ABA), which issued Monday’s report — condemn Mr Bush’s piecemeal approach to dissenting from some legislation.

“The use of presidential signing statements raises serious issues relating to the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers,” said ABA President Michael Greco.

The ABA said the practice allows the president to ignore Congress and cherry-pick parts of legislation he agrees with and ignore the rest.

While other presidents have occasionally resorted to the signing statements, Mr Bush has used them much more extensively than his predecessors.

The group said that while all prior US presidents combined issued fewer than 600 signing statements with the bills they signed, Mr Bush so far has produced more than 800.

“It was the number and nature of the current president’s signing statements which ... compelled our recommendations,” the task force said.—AFP