Military Tribunals and Presidential Power

Military Tribunals and Presidential Power PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Offers coverage of wartime extra-legal courts. Focusing on those periods when the Constitution and civil liberties have been most severely tested by threats to national security, Fisher critiques tribunals called during the presidencies of Washington, Madison, Jackson, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman.

Military Tribunals and Presidential Power

Military Tribunals and Presidential Power PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Offers coverage of wartime extra-legal courts. Focusing on those periods when the Constitution and civil liberties have been most severely tested by threats to national security, Fisher critiques tribunals called during the presidencies of Washington, Madison, Jackson, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman.

Presidential War Power

Presidential War Power PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
For this new edition, Louis Fisher has updated his arguments to include critiques of the Clinton & Bush presidencies, particularly the Use of Force Act, the Iraq Resolution of 2002, the 'preemption doctrine' of the current U.S. administration, & the order authorizing military tribunals.

The Challenge

The Challenge PDF Author: Jonathan Mahler
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429933127
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
An inspiring legal thriller set against the backdrop of the war on terror, The Challenge tells the inside story of a historic Supreme Court showdown. At its center are a Navy JAG and a young constitutional law professor who, in the aftermath of 9/11, find themselves defending their nation in the unlikeliest of ways: by suing the president of the United States on behalf of an accused terrorist in order to prevent the American government from breaking the law and violating the Constitution. Jonathan Mahler traces the journey of their client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, from the Yemeni mosque where he was first recruited for jihad in 1998, through his years working as a driver for Osama bin Laden, to his capture in Afghanistan in November 2001 and his subsequent transfer to Guantanamo Bay. It was there that Hamdan was designated by President Bush to be tried before a special military tribunal and assigned a military lawyer to represent him, a thirty-five-year-old graduate student of the Naval Academy, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. No one expected Swift to mount much of a defense. Not only were the rules of the tribunals, America's first in more than fifty years, stacked against him, his superiors at the Pentagon were pressuring him to persuade Hamdan to plead guilty. But Swift didn't believe that the tribunals were either legal or fair, so he enlisted a young Georgetown law professor named Neal Katyal to help him sue the Bush administration over their legality. In the spring of 2006, Katyal, who had almost no trial experience, took the case to the Supreme Court and won. The landmark ruling has been called the Court's most important decision ever on presidential power and the rule of law. Written with the cooperation of Swift and Katyal, The Challenge follows the braided stories of Swift's intense, precarious relationship with Hamdan and the unprecedented legal case itself. Combining rich character portraits and courtroom drama reminiscent of Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action with sophisticated yet accessible legal analysis, The Challenge is a riveting narrative that illuminates some of the most pressing constitutional questions of the post-9/11 era.

Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power

Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power PDF Author: Joseph Margulies
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743286863
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Weaving together firsthand accounts of military personnel who witnessed the interrogations with the words of the prisoners themselves, Margulies exposes the chilling reality of Guantanamo Bay.

Presidential War Power

Presidential War Power PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700619313
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
A classic and bestselling work by one of America’s top Constitutional scholars, Presidential War Power garnered the lead review in the New York Times Book Review and raised essential issues that have only become more timely, relevant, and controversial in our post-9/11 era. In this third edition, Louis Fisher updates his arguments throughout, critiques the presidential actions of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and challenges what he views as their dangerous expansion of executive power. Spanning the life of the Republic from the Revolutionary Era to the War on Terror, the new edition covers for the first time: * Indefinite detention of civilians and non-civilians without trial * President Obama’s failed effort to close Guantánamo * NSA wiretapping and Fourth Amendment violations * Presidential decision-making relating to the wind-down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan * U.S. military operations against Libya in 2011 * Continued abuse of the state secrets privilege in national security court cases * Secret legal memos justifying the use of UAVs or drones for targeted killings overseas * Extended comparison of the expansion of executive power under George W. Bush and Barack Obama

Zones of Twilight

Zones of Twilight PDF Author: Amanda DiPaolo
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780739138342
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Zones of Twilight examines how the federal courts decide wartime cases when rights are limited, arguing that the courts do not use rights-based language but instead decide cases emphasizing the institutional structure of government, the separation of powers. Using a unique app...

Opinion on the Constitutional Power of the Military to Try and Execute the Assassins of the President

Opinion on the Constitutional Power of the Military to Try and Execute the Assassins of the President PDF Author: United States. Attorney-General
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description


Supreme Court Expansion of Presidential Power

Supreme Court Expansion of Presidential Power PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700624678
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
In the fourth of the Federalist Papers, published in 1787, John Jay warned of absolute monarchs who "will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it." More than two centuries later, are single executives making unilateral decisions any more trustworthy? And have the checks on executive power, so critical in the Founders' drafting of the Constitution, held? These are the questions Louis Fisher pursues in this book. By examining the executive actions of American presidents, particularly after World War II, Fisher reveals how the Supreme Court, through errors and abdications, has expanded presidential power in external affairs beyond constitutional boundaries—and damaged the nation's system of checks and balances. Supreme Court Expansion of Presidential Power reviews the judicial record from 1789 to the present day to show how the balance of power has shifted over time. For nearly a century and a half, the Supreme Court did not indicate a preference for which of the two elected branches should dominate in the field of external affairs. But from the mid-thirties a pattern clearly emerges, with the Court regularly supporting independent presidential power in times of "emergency," or issues linked to national security. The damage this has done to democracy and constitutional government is profound, Fisher argues. His evidence extends beyond external affairs to issues of domestic policy, such as impoundment of funds, legislative vetoes, item-veto authority, presidential immunity in the Paula Jones case, recess appointments, and the Obama administration's immigration initiatives. Fisher identifies contemporary biases that have led to an increase in presidential power—including Supreme Court misconceptions and errors, academic failings, and mistaken beliefs about "inherent powers" and "unity of office." Calling to account the forces tasked with protecting our democracy from the undue exercise of power by any single executive, his deeply informed book sounds a compelling alarm.

Constitutional Conflicts between Congress and the President

Constitutional Conflicts between Congress and the President PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700619984
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Over three decades after its initial publication, Louis Fisher’s durable classic remains at the head of its class—a book that Congressional Quarterly called “as close to being indispensable as anything published in this field.” This newly revised sixth edition emphatically reinforces that sterling reputation. Fisher dissects the crucial constitutional disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government from the Constitutional Convention through President Clinton’s impeachment battles to the recent controversies over President Bush’s conduct as commander in chief. He ventures beyond traditional discussions of Supreme Court decisions to examine the day-to-day working relationships between the president and Congress. By analyzing a mixture of judicial pronouncements, executive acts, and legislative debates, Fisher pinpoints the critical areas of legislative-executive tension: appointment powers, investigatory powers, legislative and executive vetoes, the budgetary process, and war powers. He then examines these areas of tension within a concrete political and historical context. To scholars, this book offers a comprehensive examination of the institutions and issues of public law. For practitioners, general readers, and students of American government, it demonstrates how constitutional issues shape and define current events. The new edition covers for the first time: * Obama’s military decisions in Afghanistan and Iraq * Military operations against Libya in 2011 * Threatened attacks on Syria in 2013 * Efforts to close Guantánamo * Obama’s recess appointments during a pro forma session * “Fast and Furious” scandal: Holder’s contempt and Obama’s executive privilege * The growth of presidential “czars” * Executive branch secrecy and lack of accountability * State Secrets Privilege after 9/11 * Distinguishing between “implied” powers (constitutional) and “inherent” powers (not constitutional) * Pocket vetoes and the growth of “hybrid vetoes” * New developments in the President’s removal power

Military Tribunals

Military Tribunals PDF Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher: University Press of the Pacific
ISBN: 9781410221605
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
After the terrorist operations of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush authorized the creation of military tribunals to try individuals who offered assistance to the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. The military order issued by President Bush closely tracks the model established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a military tribunal appointed in 1942 to try eight German saboteurs. In Ex parte Quirin (1942), the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the jurisdiction of Roosevelt's tribunal (also called "military commission"). This report summarizes the types of military tribunals that have functioned from the Revolutionary War to the present time, explaining the legislative enactments that have guided these tribunals and the judicial decisions that have reviewed their constitutionality. One of the principal methods of legislative control over military trials, including tribunals, are the Articles of War that Congress enacts into law. The Constitution vests in Congress the power to "constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court," to "make rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces," and to "define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations." By enacting Articles of War, Congress defined not only the procedures but also the punishments to be applied to the field of military law. At various times, executive officials have claimed that the President has authority under the Constitution to create military tribunals and does not depend on statutory authorization. The Supreme Court has never accepted that argument. Instead, it looks for implied or express statutory authority whenupholding military tribunals. On a number of occasions, federal courts have expressed concern that military tribunals enable an administration to exercise all three powers of government --- legislative, executive, and judicial --- and that the concentration of those powers thre