Author: Peter M. Shane File Type: pdf The George W. Bush administrations ambitiouseven breathtakingclaims of unilateral executive authority raised deep concerns among constitutional scholars, civil libertarians, and ordinary citizens alike. But Bushs attempts to assert his power are only the culmination of a near-thirty-year assault on the basic checks and balances of the U.S. governmenta battle waged by presidents of both parties, and one that, as Peter M. Shane warns in Madisons Nightmare, threatens to utterly subvert the founders vision of representative government.Tracing this tendency back to the first Reagan administration, Shane shows how this era of aggressive presidentialism has seen presidents exerting ever more control over nearly every arena of policy, from military affairs and national security to domestic programs. Driven by political ambition and a growing culture of entitlement in the executive branchand abetted by a complaisant Congress, riven by partisanshipthis presidential aggrandizement has too often undermined wise policy making and led to shallow, ideological, and sometimes outright lawless decisions. The solution, Shane argues, will require a multipronged program of reform, including both specific changes in government practice and broader institutional changes aimed at supporting a renewed culture of government accountability.From the war on science to the mismanaged war on terror, Madisons Nightmare outlines the disastrous consequences of the unchecked executiveand issues a stern wake-up call to all who care about the fate of our long democratic experiment.**ReviewAs presidential authorityexpands, and the role of Congress diminishes,the American people continue tolosecontrol overtheirgovernment.Todays assertions of executive power are indeed a nightmare andPeter Shanes extremely readable and well-informed book describes this disturbing transformation in frightening detail.For anybody whocares about ourconstitutional system of protected liberties,this book isindispensable.I couldnt put it down and grew angrier, and more concerned, with every page.(Mickey Edwards, author of Reclaiming Conservatism) Peter Shane argues that post-1981 presidentialism is the enemy of the kind of deliberative governance that our founders intended. He shows how the Bush Administrations vision of the unilateral Presidencythe reductio ad absurdum of presidentialismnot only misinterpreted the Constitution, but failed as a philosophy and strategy of government for meeting the nations needs. Shane goes well beyond bashing the last Administration, however. He explains how, if our government is to give us real solutions to our hard problems, the members of every Administration, as well as Congress and the judiciary need to re-read the Constitution and take critical steps to reshape our legal culture in order to resuscitate public accountability and the principle of checks and balances. But, first, they need to read this book. (Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission) Peter Shane explains how the decline of structural and institutional checks has produced what the framers feared most presidentialism and lawless government. His perceptive analysis offers much-needed direction.(Louis Fisher, author of The Constitution and 911) Peter Shanes wonderful book Madisons Nightmare is aptly titled. With the passion of a devoted constitutionalist and the analytic precision of an acclaimed legal scholar, Professor Shane exposes the fanciful claims for uninhibited presidential prerogatives as the subversion of the American Constitution that they really are. Shanes arguments are twofold. First, he incisively demonstrates the absence of legal grounding for the expansive claims of presidential authority, particularly, but by no means exclusively, proclaimed by the Bush-Cheney administration. Second, he shows with great effectiveness the frequently catastrophic policy outcomes that are the result of these presidentialist interpretations of political authority. The framers of our constitution have no better advocate than Peter Shane.(Bert A. Rockman, Purdue University) Since the Obama administration now has czars for cars, information technology, bonuses, financial products, etc., can a book czar be far behind? Well, heres a memo for the inbox of our book czar to-be. Its about a slender volume that I want our new czar to mandate as a must-read for every American from middle school to grad school and way beyond. The book is titled Madisons Nightmare. (William Fisher Huffington Post) Shane writes deftly to explain constitutional debates . . . in terms comprehensible to lay readers. His analysis of Bush 43s use of executive privilege, control over regulatory policy making, and presidential signing statements are particularly illuminating. . . . Highly recommended. All readership levels. (Choice) Shane writes here about the enormous expansion of presidential power and its violation of constitutional principles. In particular, he argues that the rise in presidential power is contrary to the intentions of the framers, who imagined a restrained executive subject to the checks and balances of Congress and the judiciary. In modern history, the author argues, we have seen the rise of an aggressive presidency that too often ignores the will of Congress, which has led to bad decision making and illegal acts. Shane calls this presidentialism and explores this theme throughout the book, giving examples of unrestrained presidential power, such as the Terrorist Surveillance Program of George W. Bush and the conduct of the Iraq War. Although he draws notable examples from the recent Bush administration, Shane is careful to say that many Presidents have been guilty of presidentialism he traces the concept back to the New Deal and cites Watergate as a notorious instance. Later chapters offer solutions to the problem of expanding presidential power, e.g., election reform and increased access to broadband Internet. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. (Library Journal) Peter Shanes book is a welcome contribution on the antimonarchist side. . . . This is an impressive book in the scope of questions addressed, the materialsboth legal and political sciencedrawn upon, and the clarity and cogency of its thinking. It would be a valuable enhancement to courses on the presidency, constitutional theory, or public administration.(Law and Politics Book Review) About the Author Peter M. Shane is the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He is a coauthor and coeditor of A Little Knowledge Privacy, Security and Public Information after September 11.

Author: Donald P. Kommers File Type: pdf First published in 1989, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany has become an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners of comparative, international, and constitutional law, as well as of German and European politics. The third edition of this renowned English-language reference has now been fully updated and significantly expanded to incorporate both previously omitted topics and recent decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court. As in previous editions, Donald P. Kommers and Russell A. Millers discussions of key developments in German constitutional law are augmented by elegantly translated excerpts from more than one hundred German judicial decisions. Compared to previous editions of The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany, this third edition more closely tracks Germanys Basic Law and, therefore, the systematic approach reflected in the most-respected German constitutional law commentaries. Entirely new chapters address the relationship between German law and European and international law social and economic rights, including the property and occupational rights cases that have emerged from Reunification jurisprudence related to issues of equality, particularly gender equality and the tension between Germanys counterterrorism efforts and its constitutional guarantees of liberty. Kommers and Miller have also updated existing chapters to address recent decisions involving human rights, federalism, European integration, and religious liberty. **