In one of my recent Constitutional Law classes, I had occasion to quote a much-neglected legal authority: He-Man. Like many presidents, especially in wartime, He-Man claims that he has “fabulous secret powers” and even summarizes his legal position with the immortal words “I have the power.” It’s the best short summary of the late Bush Administration’s theory of executive power that I have seen so far.
Jacob T. Levy says:
Ilya FTW.
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November 10, 2009, 10:50 pm24behind.com says:
Lame. Didn’t live up to the hype. Seems like an effort at “balance” via gratuitous Bush-bashing.
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November 10, 2009, 10:50 pmrpt says:
24.com is right. The real theoretician of unlimited and unaccountable executive power was Dick Cheney and his sidekick Addington.
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November 10, 2009, 10:53 pmGordon Langston says:
I equated Cringer with the Republican Congress and it all worked for me.
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November 10, 2009, 10:54 pmAssistant Village Idiot says:
People approve of the He-Man attitude much more when they believe there really is a Skeletor, and he really is evil. Without that, He-Man is indeed simply a narcissistic power-grabber, worthy of ridicule. Or more likely, people will consider how He-Man himself must be stopped.
That CW is that Skeletor is merely misunderstood because of our jingoistic attachment to a Greyskull mentality. Therefore, we should bend all our energies to making sure He-Man doesn’t draw his sword — he will become Skeletor himself in time.
That lat is a very Christian, Miltonic/Tolkienish idea, rather unexpected from one who was born in Skeletor’s dimension himself.
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November 10, 2009, 11:06 pmSarcastro says:
I had no idea being President was so...gay.
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November 10, 2009, 11:07 pmDave Hardy says:
How is He-Man’s position more valid that than of Skeletor? They seem to be two morally equivalent positions.
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November 10, 2009, 11:55 pmHasmidas says:
How about She-Ra to embody the Libertarian ideal? She’s actually a revolutionary attempting to overthrow the tyrannical government.
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November 11, 2009, 12:03 amRandom. says:
John Yoo is clearly Orko.
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November 11, 2009, 12:16 amkerff says:
There must be a problem with the search program on this site. I just did a search for “Somin + Bush” and for “Somin + Executive” and I couldn’t locate any posts over the past 8 years by Mr. Somin regarding Bush’s abuses of executive power.
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November 11, 2009, 12:36 amIlya Somin says:
There must be a problem with the search program on this site. I just did a search for “Somin + Bush” and for “Somin + Executive” and I couldn’t locate any posts over the past 8 years by Mr. Somin regarding Bush’s abuses of executive power.
Perhaps you missed my long and detailed post criticizing the Administration’s position on executive power, to say nothing of my debate with John Yoo and others.
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November 11, 2009, 1:04 amIlya Somin says:
Actually, the link at the previous comment was a different debate on executive power that I took part in. Here is the one with me and Yoo.
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November 11, 2009, 1:08 amJames N. Gibson says:
What was the earlier comment about who was Orko, the magician who kept misplacing things.
By the way, the power only came to He-Man through the sword, which was given to him by the sorceress of Gray Skull. And she holds the power to take it back at any time if He-Man was to go rogue. In that regard I guess she would be the Supreme Court or at least its interpretation of the Constitution.
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November 11, 2009, 2:22 amCornellian says:
By the way, the power only came to He-Man through the sword, which was given to him by the sorceress of Gray Skull. And she holds the power to take it back at any time if He-Man was to go rogue.
Interesting. I am not well versed in He-Man lore and was not aware of that detail. I’d say that much more closely resembles the British constitutional monarchy, with the Sorceress in the role of monarch and He-Man the prime minister. The prime minister wields all the power on a day to day basis nominally in the name of the monarch. The monarch has a mostly ceremonial position, but, at least in theory, still has the ability to seize power back from the prime minister should the prime minister “go rogue.”
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November 11, 2009, 2:32 amAnderson says:
But who could’ve guessed that He-Man’s vice-president would be Skeletor?
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November 11, 2009, 8:11 amDaniel Chapman says:
Let’s see... the current crop of 1L’s should be about 23–24 right now, right? I believe they were all born about the time He-Man went off the air. I’m just curious how many of them didn’t get the reference.
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November 11, 2009, 8:13 amegd says:
As far as constitutional authority goes, which is the more defensible position: “I have the power” or “I won”?
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November 11, 2009, 8:38 amSueSimp says:
I’m not exactly a 1L anymore, DC, but I am that age. There must have been re-runs long after the series officially ended, because I was able to watch it when I was a kid... and I’m pretty sure my Battle Cat action figure and Power Sword (with accompanying clanging sword noise feature!) are still kicking around in the attic somewhere.
And Cornellian, I think clearly we should consider the Sorceress of Grayskull to be an allegory for the Constitution. She vested He-Bush with his fabulous secret powers, but through her power of judicial review, could revoke her gift of the Power Sword.
Also, the Sorceress and He-Man have a telepathic connection. Hence how Bush could know about the secret executive powers that no one else knew of.
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November 11, 2009, 8:50 am24behind.com says:
Gene Healy seems to think it’s Obama now. “Obama’s supporters have embraced the epithet Suskind’s source coined. They fancy themselves members of the ‘reality-based community’” Yet they doggedly defend a president for whom the word ‘hubris’ might have been invented — one who thinks that the government, under his direction, can rationally reshape the one-sixth of the U.S. economy devoted to health care.”
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November 11, 2009, 8:58 amkrs says:
Wow. I used to watch that show all the time when I was 5 years old or so. I didn’t remember it being quite so cheesy.
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November 11, 2009, 9:38 amBrian Garst says:
It strikes me more as a summary of every administration’s theory of executive power since Coolidge, as well as plenty more before then.
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November 11, 2009, 10:01 amBruce Boyden says:
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
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November 11, 2009, 10:39 amCornellian says:
The thread’s not complete until we have a Python reference.
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November 11, 2009, 11:04 amCornellian says:
Yet they doggedly defend a president for whom the word ‘hubris’ might have been invented — one who thinks that the government, under his direction, can rationally reshape the one-sixth of the U.S. economy devoted to health care.”
As opposed to one who thinks we can send the army overseas to transform an alien dictatorship into a democracy?
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November 11, 2009, 11:08 amThales says:
Why presume that the sorceress of Grayskull is actually benevolent–she claims the power to bestow and revoke executive power at a whim, with no basis in law or accountability for her actions. So perhaps she is Cheney in this analogy, while He-Man is Bush. Addington would be the unseen Grayskull major-domo.
Another interpretation of the same theme (at about 3:20):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1MBwyj5ziI
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November 11, 2009, 11:31 amDan Weber says:
This explains why Bush would end every State of the Union address with a safety lesson.
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November 11, 2009, 11:47 amPerseus says:
Professor Mansfield trounced you in that debate.
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November 11, 2009, 2:37 pmRepeal 16-17 says:
Stop watching YouTube and get some fresh air. Otherwise, you’ll be telling us Hillary Clinton is She-Ra and the leaders of the Congress are the Thundercats.
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November 11, 2009, 2:52 pmbiespiel says:
One post in 8 years? Okey dokey.
And what a post it was. Heres an excerpt from that post:
There’s clear cut denunciations of abuse of executive power, and then the is whatever your post was.
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November 11, 2009, 3:43 pmIlya Somin says:
One post in 8 years? Okey dokey.
I’ve only been a blogger for 3 years and executive power is not one of my major areas of expertise.
And what a post it was. Heres an excerpt from that post:
I even agree with Posner’s claim that the Bush administration has trampled on civil liberties far less than previous wartime administration’s,
Given how bad those administrations were (e.g. — imprisoning 100,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII), that’s not much of a compliment to Bush.
There’s clear cut denunciations of abuse of executive power, and then the is whatever your post was.
I don’t think it gets much more clear cut than a long and detailed critique of claims to unlimited executive power in wartime. Plus, I would note my debate with John Yoo and other criticisms of the Bush administration’s positoin on executive power in fora other than the VC. Just because it’s not on the VC, doesn’t mean I didn’t do it.
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November 11, 2009, 4:34 pmDildo Biggins says:
Couple things seem clear to me now that weren’t clear 2 years ago when watching this show.
1. He-Man was clearly an idealized homosexual male drawn and voiced by gay males.
2. Skeletor was clearly an Arab terrorist.
3. He-Man’s crime fighting efforts would have been greatly assisted by the Patriot Act.
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November 11, 2009, 5:03 pmJMA says:
Heheh. Ilya, d’you realize that amounts to like one post by you in the past few thousand years on the subject of executive power? Jeez, you are so partisan...
Ouch. My tongue is stuck in my cheek. :(
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November 11, 2009, 5:44 pmAnderson says:
Professor Mansfield trounced you in that debate.
*Harvey* Mansfield? Permit me to doubt.
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November 11, 2009, 6:07 pmChrisTS says:
Is He-Man always orange?
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November 11, 2009, 7:09 pmBack Up the Paddy Wagons, Congress Is Breaking The Law! « Moonbat Patrol says:
[...] HE-MAN ON EXECUTIVE POWER THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY [...]
fwb says:
WTF: Lincoln was one of the earliest of the unitary executive theory advocates. Bush/Cheney, as terrible as they were, did not create the concept. Deomcratic presidents like Wilson and Roosevelt held the same freaking belief. Of course, it was a republican Nixon who went so far as to say the law is what the President says it is.
Finger pointing at Bush does nothing to get to the root of the problem. The President is the head butler. He has approximately 10 enumerated powers. He is NOT the leader. He is a public servant. When folks get back to using the correct language about the position, maybe the men in the position will accept the fact that they are not elected to lead but to serve.
Tiocfaidh ar la!
PS: Check out The Cult of the Presidency by Healy of CATO.
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November 11, 2009, 7:45 pmRicardo says:
“Unitary” executive is a different theory: that all the power vested in the Executive Branch ultimately resides with the President and every person who serves in the Executive Branch serves at the whim of the President. This is a different theory from the one that says the President has virtually unlimited powers as long as he claims his actions stem from national security or wartime considerations.
In terms of Lincoln, people often pass over the fact that the Lincoln Administration went above and beyond the call of duty in the way it treated captured Confederates. After the Sioux Uprising, the U.S. held one of the largest (if not the largest) mass execution in history of the key members of that uprising. The U.S. had the power and legal authority to deal with captured Confederates the same way. Instead, it accorded them all the rights and privileges then afforded to captured foreign enemy soldiers under the laws of war at the time. Lincoln, unlike Bush, did not claim to be able to create a category of people to whom no laws applied. Instead, he fit Confederate soldiers into a pre-existing legal category (foreign soldiers at war with the U.S.) and applied the law to those prisoners without exception. Lincoln and his Attorney General were very, very rigorous in applying international legal norms to the Civil War even though they were under no obligation to do so.
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November 11, 2009, 9:28 pmrpt says:
This comment contains no snark, irony or sarcasm.
Prof Somin, your recent posts seem to be substantially more substantive, thought provoking and less partisan than most of the other posters here, save Prof. Kerr. The anniversary of communism ones were particularly good because they seemed to reflect feelings based on life experiences leavened by ideology, rather than just ideology. Thanks for the time you spend on them.
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November 11, 2009, 11:33 pmTweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » He-Man on Executive Power -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PostRank – Economics, PostRank – Law. PostRank – Law said: He-Man on Executive Power http://bit.ly/Indvm #postrank #law [...]
Thales says:
Ricardo: Noted, but in practice members of the Bush Administration often embraced *both* theories (academic unitary executive and vague inhererent and virtually unlimited Article II commander in chief powers) and used the terminology ambiguously–see many of President Bush’s signing statements simultaneously. And occasionally and unconvincingly affected complete ignorance of either theory–see David Addington’s congressional testimony.
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November 12, 2009, 10:24 amGene Madison says:
Interesting... Is the point that there is nothing we can do once ‘Adam’ (aka the first ‘man’ aka King or President) has the power just because he says it’s so? And if he uses the power for good, the people won’t try to rescind in some way.. but if he uses it for bad, enough time passes people have no idea where the power came from, or how they can stop it?
It’s time like these I wish Orko were here... he’d know what to do.
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December 29, 2009, 9:21 amThe American Conservative » Bumper-Stickering A Reasonable Decision says:
[...] of humiliating defeats in Federal court. Its stubborn attachment to the “He-man” theory of executive power — which holds that the Executive branch can pretty much do anything in the [...]