New from the University of Chicago Press:
Untrodden Ground: How Presidents Interpret the Constitution, by
Harold H. Bruff (University of Colorado Law School). A description from the Press:
When Thomas Jefferson struck a deal for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803,
he knew he was adding a new national power to those specified in the
Constitution, but he also believed his actions were in the nation’s best
interest. His successors would follow his example, setting their own
constitutional precedents. Tracing the evolution and expansion of the
president’s formal power, Untrodden Ground reveals the president
to be the nation’s most important law interpreter and examines how our
commanders-in-chief have shaped the law through their responses to
important issues of their time.
Reviewing
the processes taken by all forty-four presidents to form new legal
precedents and the constitutional conventions that have developed as a
result, Harold H. Bruff shows that the president is both more and less
powerful than many suppose. He explores how presidents have been guided
by both their predecessors’ and their own interpretations of
constitutional text, as well as how they implement policies in ways that
statutes do not clearly authorize or forbid. But while executive power
has expanded far beyond its original conception, Bruff argues that the
modern presidency is appropriately limited by the national political
process—their actions are legitimized by the assent of Congress and the American people or rejected through debilitating public outcry, judicial
invalidation, reactive legislation, or impeachment. Synthesizing over
two hundred years of presidential activity and conflict, this timely
book casts new light on executive behavior and the American
constitutional system.
Reviewers say:
“Everyone knows that the
Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. But in this magisterial
book, Bruff shows that presidents have played the most important role in
interpreting the Constitution over the course of the nation’s
history—and have done so in a way that teaches us not just about the
presidency but about the nature of the American Constitution itself.
Bruff gives us an engaging account of how presidents from George
Washington to Barack Obama have used the powers of their office, and
anyone who is interested in the Constitution will learn from, and be
challenged by, his original and subtle analysis of what our Presidents
have done.”
-- David A. Strauss, University of Chicago Law School
"There is no better book for understanding how presidents interpret the Constitution than Untrodden Ground. No
one knows the subject better than Bruff. His book is an instant
classic, drawing on a lifetime of learning, invaluable experience,
extraordinary research, and unique and profound insights. Everyone,
including presidents and the people who work for them, can learn a great
deal from this terrific book. Indeed, I would suggest, no one should
work in the White House or executive branch—or seek to critique what
they do—unless they have first read this book and taken its lessons to
heart."
-- Michael Gerhardt, University of North Carolina School of Law
More information is available
here.
