Judging Executive Power: Sixteen Supreme Court Cases that Have Shaped the American Presidency

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George W. Bush's presidency has helped accelerate a renewed interest in the legal or formal bases of presidential power. It is now abundantly clear that presidential power is more than the sum of bargaining, character, and rhetoric. Presidential power also inheres in the Constitution or at least assertions of constitutional powers. Judging Executive Power helps to bring the Constitution and the courts back into the study of the American presidency by introducing students to sixteen important Supreme Court cases that have shaped the power of the American presidency. The cases selected include the removal power, executive privilege, executive immunity, and the line-item veto, with particularly emphasis on a president's wartime powers from the Civil War to the War on Terror. Through introductions and postscripts that accompany each case, landmark judicial opinions are placed in their political and historical contexts, enabling students to understand the political forces that frame and the political consequences that follow from legal arguments and judgments.

Reviews

Ellis has compiled landmark court cases that deal with the Executive Power. His introduction to each case provide the context students need to understand their relevance, and his careful editing makes the cases accessible to students without legal training. A perfect supplementary text to bring the public law approach to undergraduate presidency courses. -- Richard M. Pious, Adolph and Effie Ochs Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
Students find it daunting to read entire court opinions, with all the legal jargon, without any guideposts. Judging Executive Power provides the guideposts and presents readable, key portions of important court opinions. Students will be engaged by the material in this book. I recommend it enthusiastically for courses on the American presidency or the separation of powers. -- Mark J. Rozell, George Mason University, author; The New Politics of the Old South: An Introduction to Southern Politics, Sixth Edition

Author Bio

Richard J. Ellis is the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette University, and the author of numerous books on the presidency including, Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush and Founding the American Presidency.