AEI Working Paper
August 20, 2009
There is growing pressure toward the use of international and foreign law in the United States. Why have these issues arisen now, and what might their consequences be?
AEI Working Paper
August 20, 2009
This working paper makes five observations regarding the Supreme Court's practice of relying upon foreign and international decisions for support of its constitutional rulings.
To truly de-politicize the process of Supreme Court confirmations, the president must select, and the Senate confirm, only justices who will remove politics from the court.
The inspectors general report ignores history and plays politics with the law.
The Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano dealt a final blow to racially motivated hiring.
Barack Obama's choice for Supreme Court nominee will help to clarify the partisan debate over whether the president's agenda is moderate or radical.
Under the Obama administration's theory of the war against al Qaeda, terrorism is really a crime, not an act of war.
The Bush administration succeeded in preventing another al Qaeda attack, with any reduction in civil liberties far less than previous U.S. wars.
The latest assault on Bush antiterror strategy could make us less safe.
President Obama has missed an opportunity to live up to his promise to take the nation beyond the old battle lines over race.
President Barack Obama will soon realize that governing involves hard choices.
Spending a trillion dollars might jump-start the economy--but at the price of damaging not only the nation's balance sheet, but also our constitutional system.
International agreements that go beyond the rules of international trade and finance should receive the intense scrutiny of the treaty process, regardless of their policy merits.
Republicans must rebuild their brand by focusing on the states, where the nation's problems in education, crime, and economic growth can best be solved.
History does not show any obvious link between experience and a president's success in office.
The Supreme Court justices have expanded their power to make many of our society's fundamental political and moral decisions.
The only hope for reining in the judiciary is the November election.
The race for the Democratic presidential nomination will come down to the decision of the superdelegates.
Terrorists should not be allowed to subvert U.S. defense policy by suing private citizens for their acts as public officials.
Clarence Thomas' memoir, My Grandfather's Son, portrays a man of understanding and humility.
Clarence Thomas's memoir, My Grandfather's Son, portrays a man of understanding and humility.
The Democrats' attack on executive privilege shows blatant disregard for the Constitution.
The Democrats' attack on executive privilege shows blatant disregard for the Constitution.
Liberals who cannot win on the merits of their arguments instead rely on bigoted innuendo and ad hominems to make their case on abortion law.
Despite its setbacks and mistakes, the Iraq war continues to receive bipartisan support. We should let politics, not the laws, determine whether that cooperation will continue.
What is Congress' role in declaring war?
Those who oppose presidential power in Iraq but supported it in Kosovo are trying to have their cake and eat it too.
The legislature cannot be trusted with wartime tactics and strategy.
How much authority does the Congress have to direct the way a war is waged? John Yoo debates Bruce Ackerman over between Congress and the president over wartime authority.
Unless there are more clear facts of interference with prosecutors for partisan purposes, Gonzales should keep his job.
The FBI istoo large and bureaucratic to effectively fight terrorism.
Whataccounts forthe relationship between presidential authority and the laws governing international affairs?
If Congress really believes the Bush administration has set us on the wrong course, it can act tomorrow to cut the sinews of war in Iraq.
Protection from terrorist attacks requires lending new powers to the government.
Over the next several years, the United States must decide whether its interests are better served by trying to preserve threatened nation-states or by dismantling them.
During the bitter controversy over the military commission bill, which President Bush signed into law on Tuesday, most of the press and the professional punditry missed the big story.
Five years after 9/11, President Bush has taken his counterterrorism case to the American people. That’s because he has had to.
President Bushhas broader goals than even fighting terrorism--he has long intended to make reinvigorating the presidency a priority.
Testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Homeland Security in a hearing titled "Catching Terrorists: The British System versus the U. S. System."
The U.S. is fighting terror with one hand behind its back by refusing to exploit data-mining tools.
In its decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld rejecting President Bush's military commissions for the trial of al-Qaeda terrorists, the Supreme Court made a number of missteps.
The court's decision in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld will hamper the ability of future presidents to respond to emergencies with the forcefulness and vision of a Lincoln or an FDR.
The decision of the Supreme Court to impose specific rules and override political judgments about military necessity mistakes war for the familiarity of the criminal justice system.
What does the Constitution permit the president to do in times of war?
Iraq is beginning to sound like a rerun of the Vietnam War, and not just because presidential critics again are crying out that the United States has fallen into a quagmire.
Do you believe that the 9/11 attacks put the United States in a state of war with Al Qaeda and its allies?
Iraq seems to have the imperial presidency in retreat.
San Diego Union-Tribune
November 7, 2005
President Bush has taken the next step in the road map toward peace. Not with Israelis and Palestinians, but with the Senate.
Information is the primary weapon in this new conflict. We should not deprive our military and intelligence agencies of the flexibility to prevent another attack.
Conservatives should insist that all nominees should interpret the Constitution in strict accordance with its text, structure and original understanding.
President George W. Bush's choice of his counsel, Harriet Miers, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor passes up a rare opportunity to change the direction of the Supreme Court.
What we need is better definition and execution of disaster responsibilities at all levels of government and more leadership on both the state and federal level to use the laws already in place.
William H. Rehnquist went from "Lone Ranger" to chief justice, and saw many of his conservative views triumph at the Supreme Court. But recent rulings went against him.
TheUnited Statesmight get closer to its goals in the Middle East if everyone would jettison the fiction of a unified, single Iraq.
Washington Post
July 21, 2005
By choosing John G. Roberts, President Bush came as close as possible to finding a non-ideological, consensus nominee who can also lay claim to being a Republican.
Los Angeles Times
July 13, 2005
In order to prevail, we must develop an offensive strategy that focuses less on controlling territory or citiesand more on new ways to disrupt and destroy networks.
The Bush White House has been favoring Washington over the states.
Bradley Lecture Series
June 6, 2005
Tonight I hope to shed some light on the third of leg of the Bradley Foundation’s interests, that of defending American ideas and institutions at home and abroad.
University of Chicago Law Review
June 1, 2005
This paper explores the international law governing the use of force in the wake of conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Philadelphia Inquirer
April 27, 2005
Distrustful of universal government solutions to difficult problems, the Rehnquist court has sought to return the country to its Tocquevillian roots.
Los Angeles Times
April 19, 2005
The United States and its envoy must understand that demolition is the order of the day--and sometimes demolition is best accomplished from within.
Los Angeles Times
February 1, 2005
To pretend that the Geneva Convention applies to al Qaeda, a non-state actor that targets civilians and disregards other laws of war, denies the reality of the war on terror.
Los Angeles Times
January 5, 2005
Without the burden of chief justiceship, Justice Thomas can expose the stark and real policy choices being imposed by the Supreme Court on the nation.
Alberto Gonzales will face questions regarding the decision to deny POW status to al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
Stanford Law Review
December 1, 2004
Must Congress provide ex ante approval for all forms uses of force?
John Kerry's policies will obstruct our ability to prevent future terrorist attacks.
Los Angeles Times
October 26, 2004
His cancer surgery over the weekend reminds us that Chief Justice William Rehnquist, appointed to the Supreme Court by President Nixon, is not going to be on the Court forever.
Los Angeles Times
July 6, 2004
A Justice Department memo considers the definition of torture under federal criminal laws; its critics have attacked the memo's conclusions.
Wall Street Journal
June 30, 2004
The Supreme Court has affirmed the Bush administration's fundamental legal approach to the war on terrorism and left it with sufficient flexibility to effectively prevail in the future.
Los Angeles Times
June 11, 2004
In interrogations, U.S. actions align with treaties and Congress's wishes.
Wall Street Journal
May 26, 2004
Judicial overconfidence in intruding into war decisions could produce more Abu Ghraibs in combat zones and remove our most effective means of preventing future terrorist attacks.
Wall Street Journal
April 7, 2004
The International Court of Justice's grandiose ambitions are leading it down the path set by the Permanent Court of International Justice--the ill-fated judicial organ of the League of Nations.
Chicago Policy Review
April 1, 2004
Wall Street Journal
February 27, 2004
An effort to nationalize marriage could result in candidates of both parties making pledges on gay marriage and the issue dominating our appointments to the federal courts.
Los Angeles Times
February 8, 2004
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's swing vote boosts the Supreme Court's influence--and her own.
Chicago Tribune
January 18, 2004
Did the Justice Department and Congress go too far in enacting The Patriot Act, or was it really a solution to the wrong problem? Either way, the debate continues.
AEI Online
December 1, 2003
We can only hope the absence of an al Qaeda attack on American soil during the last two years will not lull us back into our pre-September 11 stupor.
Yoo's October 29, 2003,testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The Weekly Standard
August 11, 2003
This is war. Skip the hand-wringing about "assassinations."
Legal Times
August 4, 2003
Perhaps the better way to judge the legitimacy of the Iraq war is not as self-defense, but rather as a safety regulation.
Subcommittee on the Constitution
June 25, 2003
International law provides the U.S. with ample authority to establish a new Iraqi constitution and democratic governmental institutions to ensure public safety and peace in the region.
PBS NewsHour
June 20, 2003
Supreme Court Review
January 1, 1970
On the functional ability of federal courts to incorporate customary international law through the vehicle of the Alien Tort Statute.
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