Bush criticized for violating constitution

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has been criticized for violating the U.S. constitution by trying to overturn a court order that restricted the Navy's use of sonars linked with the deaths of marine mammals, it was reported Wednesday.

Bush's move to exempt the Navy sonar training exercises in Southern California waters from federal law violated the constitution's separation-of-powers doctrine, attorneys of the California Coastal Commission (CCC) were quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

"The notion that the president can act like some medieval autocrat and impose the law as he sees it violates the fundamental basis of the American Constitution," said Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose staff lawyers represent the commission at a federal court.

"There are three branches of government. Each of the branches has to be respected," he said.

Bush issued an order last week that tried to overturn a ruling by a federal judge in Los Angeles who had directed the Navy to avoid conducting its sonar exercises within 12 miles (about 19 kilometers) of the coast and in the area between Santa Catalina and San Clemente islands, places where whales and dolphins are abundant.

The president said the Navy exercises were "essential to national security" and of paramount interest for the United States to train sailors to use mid-frequency active sonar to hunt for quiet diesel-electric submarines operated by potentially hostile countries.

But California's state attorney general's office argued that Bush provided only a "cursory basis" for his decision and did not provide an explanation from the secretary of commerce, as required for an exemption to the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Without such an explanation, Bush seems to be countermanding a judicial opinion simply because he does not agree with it, the court papers argue.