Pulitzeer Prize winning Boston Globe reporter wins award from lawyers' organization

[Ian David]

One month after he won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, Charlie Savage of the Globe staff has received the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for newspapers for the same series of stories about President Bush's use of "signing statements," which he attached to laws passed by Congress to assert his authority to disregard them if he chooses.

The Globe's Spotlight team won an honorable mention for their "Debtors' Hell" series.

"It's a great honor for me," Savage said in a phone interview from his Washington, D.C., office yesterday. "This is the only award that I know of which is specifically geared toward legal journalism, so as a legal affairs correspondent, this one means quite a lot."

The annual Gavel Awards recognize communications work that has been exemplary in helping foster the American public's understanding of the law and the legal system.

Savage's stories, beginning in early 2006, reported that Bush had attached signing statements to 750 laws -- more signing statements than all previous presidents combined -- setting off a storm of criticism in Congress and in legal circles, including the American Bar Association, which called the practice "contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional separation of powers."

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/18/globe_reporter_wins_award_from_lawyers_organization/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News