How Times Have Changed
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, LawEugene Volokh points out that in 2000, John Yoo (one of the lawyer’s behind Bush’s new wartime powers) said the following:
President Clinton exercised the powers of the imperial presidency to the utmost in the area in which those powers are already at their height � in our dealings with foreign nations. Unfortunately, the record of the administration has not been a happy one, in light of its costs to the Constitution and the American legal system. On a series of different international relations matters, such as war, international institutions, and treaties, President Clinton has accelerated the disturbing trends in foreign policy that undermine notions of democratic accountability and respect for the rule of law.
Did 9/11 change everything? Or is that just a convenient excuse for those who are now in power?
Food for thought…
This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 and is filed under Foreign Policy, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 19th, 2006 at 3:55 am
I’m just writing a paper on the WTO and sovereignty issues, which is what I suspect Yoo is referring too. It strikes me that something like the legitimacy of the effect of the WTO’s dispute resolution body on domestic regulation and the breadth of the presidents wartime powers are entirely different issues…
September 19th, 2006 at 3:56 am
PS. I meant Yoo was probably referring to the WTO and related issues, like security council and the UN/mulilateral bodies more generally.
September 19th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Convenient excuse. Most those who think Bush should have broad, nearly unchecked powers would be singing a different tune if a Democrat were president. Of course, most those who see Bush’s power-grabs as a great evil would also be singing a different tune if a Democrat were president.
For most partisans, reality is just another flexible tool of politics.