Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror

Schwarz, Frederick A. O. , Jr., Huq, Aziz Z.

ISBN 10: 1595583475 / ISBN 13: 9781595583475

Published by The New Press, 2008

About this Item

Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present.

Seller Inventory # M01595583475-G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror
• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1595583475
• ISBN 13: 9781595583475
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Thirty years after the Church Committee unearthed COINTELPRO and other instances of illicit executive behavior on the domestic and international fronts, the Bush administration has elevated the flaws identified by the committee into first principles of government.

Through a constellation of nonpublic laws and opaque, unaccountable institutions, the current administration has created a “secret presidency” run by classified presidential decisions and orders about national security. A hyperactive Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice is intent on eliminating checks on presidential power and testing that power's limits. Decisions are routinely executed at senior levels within the civilian administration without input from Congress or the federal courts, let alone our international allies. Secret NSA spying at home is the most recent of these. Harsh treatment of detainees, “extraordinary renditions,” secret foreign prisons, and the newly minted enemy combatant designation have also undermined our values. The resulting policies have harmed counterterrorism efforts and produced few tangible results.

With a partisan Congress predictably reluctant to censure a politically aligned president, it is all the more important for citizens themselves to demand disclosure, oversight, and restraint of sweeping claims of executive power. This book is the first step.

About the Author

Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. is chief counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He was chief counsel to the Church Committee. He is the author of Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy and a co-author, with Aziz Z. Huq, of Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror (both from The New Press). He lives in New York City.