by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
Harry Truman was famous for the simple instruction, “Say what you mean, mean what you say.” He was talking about personal communication, not differing interpretations of law. In his day, the law was generally clear about what was legal and what was not, and Congressional bills were not thousands of pages long.
Today’s bloated legislation is not only unwieldy, but also subject to varying interpretations. That allows for mischief, and sometimes outright disregard for existing law by federal officials, perhaps hoping legislators, and the public, won’t notice because of that complexity. We are conditioned to accept new “interpretations” by new administrations, even when they represent 180-degree reversals of long-standing policy.
That fact was brought into sharp focus by a federal judge’s June 15 ruling in the public lands leasing case. It was an unusual — and refreshing — reminder that we still live in a country where policy is made by law, not by the everyday whims of current office holders.
