Law Profs Shocked By DOJ Memos About Bush Presidential Powers
Law professors with differing political perspectives agree on one thing after seeing the recently released U.S. Department of Justice legal memos outlining the scope of presidential power during the Bush administration: They went too far.
Written over a several-year period after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the since-countermanded memos created what Jack Balkin of Yale Law School calls a “theory of presidential dictatorship,” reports the Chicago Tribune. Because the entire world was considered a battlefield, Bush was determined to have enormous powers in any situation involving the military and an identified enemy.
“I agree with the left on this one,” Orin Kerr of George Washington University tells the newspaper. The approach taken by the memos “was simply not a plausible reading of the case law.”
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “DOJ Memo Allowed Free Speech Curbs, Military Force Against US Terrorists”
ABAJournal.com: “John Yoo Says His Memos ‘Were Not for Public Consumption’”
Bloomberg (opinion): “Recession-Proof Jobs Shelter Bush’s Bum Lawyers: Ann Woolner “
Updated at 4:45 p.m. on March 6 to include link to Bloomberg commentary.
