
Power and Constraint
The Accountable Presidency After 9/11
Jack Goldsmith(Author)
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Published on 20. April 2012
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-0-393-08133-6 (ISBN)
Description
Conventional wisdom holds that 9/11 sounded the death knell for presidential accountability. In fact, the opposite is true. The novel powers that our post-9/11 commanders in chief assumed-endless detentions, military commissions, state secrets, broad surveillance, and more-are the culmination of a two-century expansion of presidential authority. But these new powers have been met with thousands of barely visible legal and political constraints-enforced by congressional committees, government lawyers, courts, and the media-that have transformed our unprecedentedly powerful presidency into one that is also unprecedentedly accountable.
These constraints are the key to understanding why Obama continued the Bush counterterrorism program, and in this light, the events of the last decade should be seen as a victory, not a failure, of American constitutional government. We have actually preserved the framers' original idea of a balanced constitution, despite the vast increase in presidential power made necessary by this age of permanent emergency.
These constraints are the key to understanding why Obama continued the Bush counterterrorism program, and in this light, the events of the last decade should be seen as a victory, not a failure, of American constitutional government. We have actually preserved the framers' original idea of a balanced constitution, despite the vast increase in presidential power made necessary by this age of permanent emergency.
More details
Edition
New
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 251 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
629 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-08133-6 (9780393081336)
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E-Book
03/2012
W. W. Norton & Company
€24.99
Available for download
Person
Jack Goldsmith is the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law at Harvard University. From October 2003 to June 2004 he was assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.