Constitutional Interpretations have political implications. Especially in the ongoing debate over limits on the powers of the executive branch, those on both sides of the issue base their claims on their understandings of the Constitution's granting or withholding of executive authority. In this groundbreaking collection of studies, eleven presidential scholars examine for the first time the origins, development, use, and future of the unitary executive theory, a concept frequently cited during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Despite the attention the unitary executive theory received as a result of controversial actions undertaken by the Bush administration, the contributors to this volume believe the concept continues to be largely misunderstood. Mainstream thinking about contemporary presidential power focuses on each individual president's ability to bargain and persuade Congress, the press, and the public. The Unitary Executive and the Modern Presidency, in contrast, places an institutional lens on the topic. It examines how the concept became a recognized constitutional theory of presidential authority, how it has evolved, how it has been employed by presidents of both parties, and how its use has affected and been affected by U.S. politics. This book also examines the constitutional, political, and even psychological impact of the last thirty years of turmoil in the executive branch and the ways that controversy has altered both the exercise and the public's view of presidential power.
The Unitary Executive and the Modern Presidency is an important work for presidential scholars, students of politics and political historians, interested general readers, and anyone seeking an understanding of the modern development and uses of presidential power.
"This book is a necessary and needed antidote to the confusion over the unitary executive. Its wide-ranging and fair-minded essays offer, for the first time, a balanced and nuanced exploration of this controversial theory of executive power. No student of the presidency should be without it."--Robert Spitzer, distinguished service professor of political science, SUNY Cortland, and author, Saving the Constitution from Lawyers
— Robert Spitzer
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: What Is the Unitary Executive? Ryan J. Barilleaux Christopher S. Kelley 1
Part I An Overview of the Unitary Executive
The Unitary Executive: Ideology versus the Constitution Louis Fisher 17
Executive Unilateralism in the Ford and Carter Presidencies Ryan J. Barilleaux David Zellers 41
The Unitary Executive and Review of Agency Rulemaking Melanie Marlowe 77
The Unitary Executive and the Clinton Administration Christopher S. Kelley 107
Part II The Unitary Executive and the George W. Bush Presidency
Foundations of the Unitary Executive of George W. Bush Michael A. Genovese 125
The Unitary Executive and Secrecy in the Bush Presidency: The Case of the Energy Task Force Controversy Mitchel A. Sollenberger Mark J. Rozell 145
Warrantless Surveillance and the Warrantless Presidency Richard M. Pious 163
Aiding and Abetting: Congressional Complicity in the Rise of the Unitary Executive Bryan W. Marshall Patrick J. Haney 188
Part III Conclusion
Going Forward: The Unitary Executive, Presidential Power, and the Twenty-first Century Presidency Ryan J. Barilleaux Christopher S. Kelley 219
Contributors 231
Index 233
Overview
Constitutional Interpretations have political implications. Especially in the ongoing debate over limits on the powers of the executive branch, those on both sides of the issue base their claims on their understandings of the Constitution's granting or withholding of executive authority. In this groundbreaking collection of studies, eleven presidential scholars examine for the first time the origins, development, use, and future of the unitary executive theory, a concept ...