The Presidency and the Law: The Clinton Legacy / Edition 1

by David Gray Adler, Michael A. Genovese

Overview

Political scandals have always demonstrated the capacity of our executive officials for self-inflicted injuries, and the Clinton administration was no exception. Unilateral warmaking, claims of executive privilege and immunity, and last-minute pardons all tested the limits of presidential power, while the excesses of the Special Prosecutor cast doubts on available remedies. For eight years, Republicans and Democrats engaged in guerrilla warfare aimed at destroying the careers and lives of their adversaries while tests of presidential power were resolved by the courts, resulting in a reshaping of the scope and power of the presidency itself.

This book examines the many controversial and important battles that led to the shrinking of the presidency under the law during the Clinton administration. Located at the intersection of law and politics, it helps readers understand the dramatic changes that took place in the relationship of presidential power to the law during the Clinton years and shows how one president's actions—and congressional and legal reactions to them—have altered presidential prerogatives in ways that his successors cannot ignore.

The Presidency and the Law offers an assessment of changes in constitutional and legal understanding of the American presidency, exploring such topics as war power, executive privilege, pardon power, impeachment, executive immunity, independent counsel, and campaign finance. In examining these collisions between president and the law, its distinguished contributors bring the lessons of Watergate and Iran-Contra into the Clinton era and contribute to a Madisonian view that presidents should not operate outside statutory and constitutional constraints.

While the essays offer several criticisms of that administration's exercise of power and its interpretation of constitutional provisions and law, many of the authors have been supportive of Clinton and his policy pursuits, and all seek to examine the potential impact of the Clinton administration without being predictive or legalistic. They offer instead commentary, analysis, and criticism that examine the legality and constitutionality of President Clinton's actions within a broader political and historical context.

The presidency is constitutionally weaker and politically more vulnerable than the office Bill Clinton assumed in 1993, and it remains to be seen what impact these changes will have on the presidency in the 21st century. This book points the way to assessing that impact, and is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of our democracy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700611942
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	09/24/2002
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Foreword: The Presidency and the Law, Thomas E. Cronin

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Expansion and Contraction: Clinton’s Impact on the Scope of Presidential Power, Nancy Kassop

2. Clinton, the Constitution, and the War Power, David Gray Adler

3. The Clinton Legacy: An Old (or New) Understanding of Executive Privilege?, Mark J. Rozell

4. The Pardon Power under Clinton: Tested but Intact, Michael A. Genovese and Kristine Almquist

5. The Independent Counsel and the Post-Clinton Presidency, Robert J. Spitzer

6. Executive Immunity for the Post-Clinton Presidency, Evan Gerstmann and Christopher Shortell

7. In the Wake of 1996: Clinton’s Legacy for Presidential Campaign Finance, Victoria A. Farrar-Myers

8. The Impeachment of Bill Clinton, David Gray Adler and Nancy Kassop

9. The Condition of the Presidency: Clinton in Context, David Gray Adler

Epilogue: Constitutional Violence, Louis Fisher

Selected Bibliography

About the Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This splendid collection will be essential for anyone who wants to understand both the Clinton presidency and the current character of the formal powers of the office. Highly recommended."—Choice

"Offers stringent critiques of President Bill Clinton’s employment of executive authority and its ramifications for the office and the American political system."—Perspectives on Political Science

From the Publisher

A tour de force that is indispensable as a teaching tool and as a reference work. The authors have done a great service for their colleagues in political science and public law, and for the nation at large.

Richard M. Pious

The presidency is a political office, but if the United States is to remain a republic, we must never forget that it operates in a constitutional and legal framework. This admirable collection contains detailed and timely warnings that we ignore at our peril.

Donald L. Robinson

A valuable and thoughtful set of essays exploring pivotal developments in the American presidency.

Harold C. Relyea