It’s time like these I wish Orko were here… he’d know what to do.

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.

fwb: WTF: Lincoln was one of the earliest of the unitary executive theory advocates.

“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.

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.

*Harvey* Mansfield? Permit me to doubt.

Ouch. My tongue is stuck in my cheek. :(

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.

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.

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.

One post in 8 years? Okey dokey.

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,

There’s clear cut denunciations of abuse of executive power, and then the is whatever your post was.

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.

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.

Professor Mansfield trounced you in that debate.

Another interpretation of the same theme (at about 3:20):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1MBwyj5ziI

As opposed to one who thinks we can send the army overseas to transform an alien dictatorship into a democracy?

It’s the best short summary of the late Bush Administration’s theory of executive power that I have seen so far.

It strikes me more as a summary of every administration’s theory of executive power since Coolidge, as well as plenty more before then.

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.

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.”

Ilya Somin: 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.

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.

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.