Documents the various abuses that occurred during the Bush Admin. relating to the House Judiciary Committee¿s review and jurisdiction, and to develop a comprehensive set of recommendations to prevent the recurrence of these or similar abuses in the future. Contents: Preface: ¿Deconstructing the Imperial Presidency,¿ which describes and critiques the key war power memos that gave rise to the concept of broad-based, unreviewable, and secret presidential powers in time of war. Also describes specific abuses of the Imperial Presidency relating to Judiciary Comm. inquiries. Includes a comprehensive set of 47 policy recommendations designed to respond to the abuses and excesses of the Bush Imperial Presidency.

Debuting in its first edition , The Contemporary American President explores the potential and limitations of presidential influence in times of rising public expectation for the office and the declining ability of presidents to meet it. It focuses on six major areas concerning the presidency - selection, power, accountability, decision making, personality, and leadership - and offers an appreciation of the challenges of the office as the institution attempts to function in an increasingly controversial political environment.

As the fortieth anniversary of the Nixon resignation approaches, it is time to take a fresh look at Watergate's impact on the American political system and to consider its significance for the historical reputation of the president indelibly associated with it.

Publisher Description

Throughout American history, presidents have shown a startling power to act independently of Congress and the courts. On their own initiative, presidents have taken the country to war, abolished slavery, shielded undocumented immigrants from deportation, declared a national emergency at the border, and more, leading many to decry the rise of an imperial presidency. But given the steep barriers that usually prevent Congress and the courts from formally checking unilateral power, what stops presidents from going it alone even more aggressively? The answer, Dino P. Christenson and Douglas L. Kriner argue, lies in the power of public opinion. With robust empirical data and compelling case studies, the authors reveal the extent to which domestic public opinion limits executive might. Presidents are emboldened to pursue their own agendas when they enjoy strong public support, and constrained when they don’t, since unilateral action risks inciting political pushback, jeopardizing future initiatives, and further eroding their political capital. Although few Americans instinctively recoil against unilateralism, Congress and the courts can sway the public’s view via their criticism of unilateral policies. Thus, other branches can still check the executive branch through political means. As long as presidents are concerned with public opinion, Christenson and Kriner contend that fears of an imperial presidency are overblown.

Has the imperial presidency returned? The New Imperial Presidency suggests that the Congressional framework meant to guide and constrain presidential behavior has slowly eroded over the decades since Watergate. Author Andrew Rudalevige describes the evolution of executive power in our separated system of governance. Rudalevige discusses the abuse of power that prompted what he calls the resurgence regime against the imperial presidency, and inquires as to how and why, over the three decades that followed Watergate, presidents regained their standing. The New Imperial Presidency shows that presidents have always tried to interpret Constitutional powers broadly. Ambitious executives can choose from an array of actions that push against congressional power and, finding insufficient resistance, expand the scope of presidential power.

Time and again, in recent years, the charge has been made that sitting presidents have behaved “imperially,” employing authorities that break the bounds of law and the Constitution. It is now an epithet used to describe presidencies of both parties. The Imperial Presidency and the Constitution examines this critical issue from a variety of perspectives: analyzing the president’s role in the administrative state, as commander-in-chief, as occupant of the modern “Bully Pulpit,” and, in separate essays, addressing recent presidents’ relationship with Congress and the Supreme Court. The volume also deepens the discussion by taking a look back at Abraham Lincoln’s expansive use of executive power during the Civil War where the tension between law and necessity were at their most extreme, calling into question the “rule of law” itself. The volume concludes with an examination of how the Constitution’s provision of both “powers and duties” for the president can provide a roadmap for assessing the propriety of executive behavior.

"Renowned scholar Stephen Skowronek's insights have fundamentally altered our understanding of the American presidency. His seminal works have identified broad historical patterns in American politics and explained the dynamics at work behind them. His "political time" thesis has been particularly influential, revealing how presidents reckon with the work of their predecessors, situate their power within recent political events, and assert their authority to change things. In this new book, Skowronek revisits his political time thesis and focuses on how it helps us make sense of the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The essays--some of which predate his book The Politics Presidents Make, some of which followed it, and one of which is wholly original to this volume--make his arguments about the politics of leadership generally accessible while also drawing them forward and highlighting new issues for our times. Skowronek explains the typical political problems that presidents confront in political time, as well as the likely effects of their working through them. This allows him to draw out parallels in the politics of leadership between Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt and between James Polk and John Kennedy--and to develop a new and revealing perspective on the leadership of George W. Bush. All along the way, Skowronek considers contemporary innovations in the American political system that bear on the leadership patterns he draws from the more distant past. The impact of the 24-hour news cycle, of a more disciplined and homogeneous Republican party, of conservative advocacy of the "unitary theory" of the executive, and of progressivedisillusionment with the presidency--all come under fresh scrutiny. A provocative review of presidential history, Skowronek's book brims with fresh insights and opens a window on the institution of the executive office and the workings of the American political system as a whole. Intellectually satisfying for scholars, it also provides an accessible volume for students and general readers interested in the American presidency." -- Publisher.

Assessing the state of American politics in the Obama administration, this text looks both at the institutional framework of government and at the policy dilemmas facing the United States today.